


For the Good Life is Out There Somewhere

by shortystylee



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2017-12-09 23:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 83,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/779211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortystylee/pseuds/shortystylee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU. When Gendry left Kings Landing for an internship with Baratheon Snow, the biggest ski company in Westeros, located at Winterfell Ski Resort, he had no idea what to expect. He knew there would be challenges - the cold, the design competition, his new job at the resort - but he never expected to meet a challenge quite like Arya Stark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: This is my first fic I've written in about thirteen years. I want to make some notes about the universe it is set in. The locations are the same as in ASOIAF, so no locations from our world, however they do have all of the same technology as we have, along with our media/music/literature in addition to their own. Since there are no real world locations, I've tried my best to exclude referencing anything that makes mention of our world. I hope that makes sense. Also, this story occurs in real time. Each chapter is dated. The title is from a song by The Smiths, it'll come into play later.
> 
> Also, I'm not GRRM, if that wasn't already obvious.

**ONE: GENDRY WATERS - TUESDAY NOVEMBER 15**

 

"Gods, it's cold," Gendry muttered under his breath.

 

He'd never been this far north before and he couldn't believe it was still another two hour shuttle ride north to Winterfell. After living his whole life in Kings Landing, save for a Spring Break trip to the Dornish beaches back in high school and a couple camping trips to the Riverlands, this was the first time he had been this far away from home. It was also the first time he has been this cold and seen this much snow... and it was only mid-November. Every few winters Kings Landing might get a dusting of snow that would shut down the whole city and send cars crashing off the Kings Road, but nothing like this. He had spent a little over four hours on a large jet from Kings Landing to White Harbor, but then he had a layover for another three hours before he got on the tiny commuter plane that would take him on a very bumpy ride to Torrhen's Square, which had the closest public airport to Winterfell. He'd tried to get tickets to the regional airport in Wintertown, but he soon found out it was only for cargo planes and the infrequent privately chartered jet.

 

As he exited down the staircase attached to the tiny plane he thought for a moment about picking his bags off the luggage carousel and getting on the first flight back home, but he quickly pushed those thoughts out of his mind.

 

_"This is the best chance yer gonna get kid, ya better take it."_

 

_"Professor Mott," Gendry started, "I don't even know how I got this internship - I didn't apply. And definitely not to go up to that ski resort in the frozen bloody North."_

 

_"You've been pissin' yer life away in this awful city for too long. You graduated months ago, boy, and you've done shit nothin' since then. You were the best graphic designer in any of my classes the past four years and so I put yer name in the running. With my stellar letter of recommendation you were a shoe-in, so don't fuck it up."_

 

That was how Gendry ended up with a graphic design internship and moving to Winterfell Ski Resort for the next four months. Despite the talent that his professor said he had and the aptitude he had showed in all of his classes – not to mention how much he actually enjoyed it – this seemed to Gendry as if it really was his only chance to make something of himself. After bouncing around different boys' homes ever since his mother died when he was ten he learned to work for what he needed and was grateful for everything he received. He was determined to give this opportunity a proper go and if it meant picking up his life and moving all the way across the country then that's what he would do.

 

The internship that Professor Mott had got him was an unpaid graphic designer position for Baratheon Snow, a ski and snowboard company with their offices at Winterfell, the largest ski resort in all of Westeros. Baratheon Snow was just one subsidiary of the much larger Baratheon Incorporated, which made its headquarters in Kings Landing. They are a large company that practically everyone had heard of in Kings Landing and around the whole of Westeros. Child companies and offices were located all across the seven provinces and even a couple across the Narrow Sea in Essos, each location specializing in equipment for a different type of sport or outdoor activity. He knew that the offices located in Sunspear in Dorne focused on surfboard and jet skis from his trip there, and he had heard people talk about other offices in the Vale for rock climbing, hang-gliding, and bungee jumping equipment, offices in Highgarden for four-wheelers and other off-road vehicles, and kayaks in Riverrun. The fact that he'd only been out of the capital city area a handful of times in his whole life but would now be working for one of the largest corporations in the world only served to make him feel quite small.

 

Baratheon Snow partnered with the ski resort, and while the information packet he had received left much unexplained, it did say that the internship would start this Thursday and also came with a pre-arranged spot in the employee housing and a yet undetermined job. _Better than having to job search himself_ , Gendry figured.

 

He followed the signs and the twenty-some other people to the baggage claim, grabbed the suitcase he'd managed to stuff twenty-two years of life into, and made his way outside to wait for the shuttle that would take him to his new home. There were a couple other people also waiting at the overhang where the shuttle would stop, all with large plastic ski cases and huge suitcases. It didn't take long for the shuttle to arrive, a large four row van with the Winterfell wolf logo on the sliding door with their slogan "Winter is Coming" below. _I seriously doubt winter ever leaves this place_ , he thought.

 

After throwing his suitcase in the back of the van and settling down in his seat, he grabbed a notepad from his backpack and started to make a list of everything he could think he would need to do in order to get set in his new life. He had enough money saved up from various odd jobs he worked and he had managed to get around $2000 for selling his car, but it would probably only be enough to last a month or two, especially in a resort town. He'd need to pay for his rent in the employee housing, food, definitely some warmer clothes...

 

Gendry put his notepad away and spent the remaining time by staring in awe at the scenery. He was so used to his small, somewhat dingy, studio apartment, tall buildings blocking the view of Blackwater Bay, smoggy air, and walks to his summer classes surrounded by sweaty stressed business people in the heat and humidity that plagued Kings Landing in mid-August. After leaving the airport the van had continued to climb and climb as fields led to foothills and foothills led to legitimate mountains. There were tiny towns nestled in valleys and he couldn't help but wonder who actually lived here. He remembered from geography classes when he was younger that the North had only a quarter of the population of the rest of the country but was larger in size than the other six provinces combined. There were a couple of road signs along the highway for interchanges and country roads leading to the other towns and villages he'd only heard of - Deepwood Motte, Hornwood, Moat Cailin. Just as the switchbacks and mountain passes were reminding him that selling his car was one the best decisions that he had made, the shuttle came out of a tunnel and he finally saw it.

 

Winterfell. _Home_.

 

Three mountain peaks rose up dwarfing all those surrounding. He could make out the runs and lift lines and as they got closer and drove down into the valley where the town and ski village were, he started to make out all the little moving dots making their way downhill and his eyes ventured further skyward.

 

 _Oh hell, they're up there too?_ He thought. _There aren't even trees up there. Buggering idiots_.

 

He continued to watch as the shuttle made its way through Wintertown and into the Winterfell resort village to drop off passengers, his eyes wide and staring at the large piles of snow that had been plowed up on the sides of the road, people with skis hiked up over their shoulders or holding onto snowboards at their sides, and the lights that were on each tree that lined the main road. They passed an open main square with several large fire pits with wooden benches for seating, an ice skating rink, and statue of a larger-than-life howling wolf. It was flanked by a ring of large trees that were as white as the snow around them, all of them with blood red leaves still clinging to the branches in spite of the cold. The shuttle stopped here, let out one of the other passengers, and continued on, going farther from the main square.

 

"Alright, son, enough gawking. This is your stop, right? This is where they put all the workers." The driver said when the shuttle stopped again, and Gendry noticed his sky blue winter jacket with the same wolf logo as was on the van. He was the only passenger left after the other stops now.

 

Gendry jumped out and grabbed his suitcase, noting that it had somehow gotten yet even colder than when he got off the plane in Torrhen's Square.

 

"Here goes nothing," he said to himself, hit the side of the van with his gloved hand, and watched it drive away.


	2. Chapter 2

**TWO: ARYA STARK – TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15**

 

"Gods, it's warm out," Arya muttered under her breath.

 

She shoved her ski poles upright into the snow and fiddled with opening the vents in her matching gray ski jacket and snow pants. She wore the Winterfell wolf logo on the back of her jacket and her name underneath it in capital letters. Everyone who worked for the resort had a jacket like hers, different colors for different jobs: red for ski patrol, a bright yellow for lift operators, forest green for instructors, and so on. Only her siblings, parents, and her father's younger brother Benjen had the wintry gray colored jackets with the large wolf on the back, their family colors and sigil since long before any living relatives were born.

 

Normally, Arya was in the forest green jacket and snow pants as part of her uniform for giving ski lessons, but as today was her day off work she was determined to enjoy it and didn't want the constant attention and questions she got with wearing the instructor outfit. Despite only a little fresh snow overnight she knew she would be back at work tomorrow morning and she should enjoy today while it lasted. More of the seasonal workers were arriving daily to start their jobs, which meant that the busy season would be starting soon and it wouldn't be often that she would get the entire day off work. She had found out from an early age that, despite being the owner's daughter, the privileges that came with that were few and far between. Her parents both worked long hours and the same sort of discipline was expected of herself and the rest of her siblings, whether it be aimed towards school or working. Sure, she never really had to worry about money and didn't need to pay for season passes but there was always something expected of her, how to act, going to special functions to represent her family, and for some reason she always seemed to mess it up somehow.

 

She finished the run she was on, a steep and narrow run through the trees that her and her older brother Jon had cleared out as their own private glades. Sure, there were plenty of other gladed runs for her to choose from, but there was something special about these ones. They had worked together every off-season for years when they were younger clearing out secret areas of the mountains that only the two of them, along with some trusted friends, knew existed. _Okay, maybe some curious skiers and snowboarders found their runs too_ , she thought, _but they were never marked as official runs and were not posted on any trail maps or signs._

 

That's who she was meeting in a few minutes anyways, was Jon. She knew when he would be on his lunch break and tried to meet him at the lodge at the top of Castle Black, the middle peak, as often as possible. Her mother Catelyn didn't like the idea of any of her children spending time with Jon, but since her father Ned refused to cast away his son, raising him together with the rest of his five children, how could she not be close to him? They even looked alike, both having the mousy dark brown hair, gray eyes, and brooding Stark looks. The rest of her siblings, Robb, Sansa, Bran, and even Rickon all favored their mother's Tully side with ruddy almost brown, almost red hair and clear blue eyes. She couldn't bring herself to think of him as just her half-brother or treat him with contempt the way her mother did. _It wasn't Jon's fault that he didn't have the same mother as the rest of us,_ she thought, _he never got a choice_. 

 

Arya arrived at the bottom of their secret run and followed a flat green cat track to the chairlift, a big express lift capable of seating eight across that was normally quite full, but since it was a Tuesday in the beginning of the season she found herself riding up with a young kid that looked like a local, probably skipping class at the high school in Wintertown, and an older man in an orange Winterfell ski jacket. He was a mountain host.

 

She loved the long lift ride up to the top since it gave her time to think and take in the scenery. Growing up in a large family, six children, seven if you count their foster son Theon, it was always difficult for Arya to find time to hear herself think, let alone get some privacy. It was different now though, only herself, Bran, and Rickon lived at home with their parents. Sansa had an apartment in the village with her best friend Jeyne, Robb had bought a condo a year or so ago and Theon paid for the spare room, and Jon had moved out as soon as he was 18 years old and Ned was unable to tell him that he couldn't leave. He still had four months left of his senior year of high school when he moved in with his older girlfriend Ygritte and his best friend Sam in Wintertown, almost six years ago. Arya didn't blame him. She missed having him around the house everyday, that was for sure, but she could not blame him. If she'd spent 18 years of her life dealing with the side of her mother that she showed Jon, she definitely wouldn't be at home still either. 

 

What Arya didn't want to think about on the chair lift ride was what she was going to do. She had graduated from high school almost six months ago, and much to her mother's dismay, had yet to "make something" of herself.

 

_"You're going to have to decide sooner or later," Catelyn remarked. They'd had this conversation before, over almost every meal together, and Arya was sure they would have it again in the near future. "Robb's engaged and now that he has his degree he's on track to take over for your father one day. Sansa is going to university despite all of her practice time and competitions. Even Bran is starting to research schools for physical therapy degrees and he's still in high school. You'll have to grow up someday, Arya."_

 

_"I don't need school to do what I want, Mom, I'm not like the rest of them. We don't all need college to get by, look at Jon and Theon. I'm perfectly happy teaching lessons and once I've saved up enough money for an apartment I'll be out of your hair, so don't worry."_

 

_"Don't compare yourself to those two, young lady. You've got so much more to offer than either of them." Catelyn snapped back. Arya knew that bringing up Jon was a bad idea, but what the hell, her mom pestering her again was a bad idea too, truth be told._

 

_"I'll compare myself to whoever I want. Maybe I'll get out of her sooner, I'm sure Jon has a couch I can crash on and gods know he won't rag on me like you do. It's no wonder he left as soon as he could, with how you treated him."_

 

It usually ended just about like that, give or take a few words. Catelyn would huff and go seek out Ned to complain about their wild and unruly daughter who had the ability to do so much better for herself, Arya would storm off angry, make the two mile trek to Jon's apartment in Wintertown and sleep there for the night.

 

The chairlift climbed up past the last support tower, Arya and her two companions slid off in different directions, and she skated over to Castle Black Lodge. The large log cabin style lodge had a huge cafeteria as well as a more intimate full-service restaurant which was often booked full for dinner. Since you could reach the lodge via a gondola it was full most nights as the romantic hot spot for dining at ten-thousand feet. The majority of the mountain tours, intermediate and above lessons, and back country tours all started from Castle Black as well, so it was always a hub of activity. The lodge stood prominently on the front face of its namesake peak, the middle and tallest of the three peaks belonging to the ski resort. To the west was Shadow Tower and on the eastern side was the aptly named Eastwatch. Arya thought sometimes her great-grandfather Edwyle Stark could've been a little more creative with the names.

 

"Arya!" Jon shouted, waving his hands to get her attention. The lunchtime crowds were thinning but it was always difficult to find someone in the commotion of the cafeteria.

 

She quickened her pace as much as her ski boots allowed and gave her brother a big hug before shedding her gloves, helmet, goggles, and jacket. He had remembered she was meeting him today and had bought lunch for the both of them.

 

"What're you up to today, sis? You've got the day off, right?"

 

"Mfyes," Arya mumbled, quickly making a dent in the chili Jon had bought. "Yes, off today, a private lesson tomorrow morning, a kids' group in the afternoon, and then that stupid new employee greeting that Dad makes us sit through. Please tell me you're going this time."

 

Jon sighed. There was so much his little sister understood yet so much she chose to ignore. "Catelyn won't let me up on stage with the family and you know that. I'll be there with Ygritte and the rest of the department heads, but not with you."

 

And that's how it was. Jon could tell Arya was a little disheartened by his statement and worked to steer the conversation towards anything else the rest of lunch.


	3. Chapter 3

First, thank you all the kudos! It's still stupid amazing to me that you like this :) And of course, I am still not GRRM **.  
**

**THREE: GENDRY**

**TUESDAY NOVEMBER 15**

**WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 16**

The van pulled away and Gendry was left staring up at the large dormitory building, if it could be called a dormitory. It looked the same as the rest of the lodging buildings, a new-looking tall tan building with rows of windows and sliding glass doors that led to balconies, some decorated with lights, some with patio sets and barbecue grills. He noticed one balcony with a Casterly Lions football club flag in the window - the only thing that signaled to him that these weren't condos or timeshares.

 

He went inside the lobby through sliding automatic doors to try to figure out this room situation. The information package he'd received in the mail said he would receive his room assignment upon his arrival at the employee housing office, which should be just ahead if the sign on the wall was to be believed, and would hopefully still be open. Beyond that, the information he had received was not terribly detailed or helpful.

 

Gendry found the office around the next corner. Just a plain door labeled with "Employee Housing Office" and the number 100, with a sliding glass window and small ledge next to it, however it looked like no one was working. 

 

_No bell either_ , Gendry thought.

 

"Hello?" Gendry called, sliding open the window. "Is anyone working? I'm new and I need to get my room keys."

 

Nothing.

 

"Hello? Listen, if someone is working, I really need to get my keys."

 

"Alright, alright, hold on!" A female voice yelled from somewhere way in the back. Whoever this was, they didn't sound excited to come and help him. "Can't get any work done here without someone needin' something every five seconds."

 

A moment later, Gendry was face-to-face with a girl about his age wearing a polo shirt the same shade of light blue as the shuttle van driver. The wolf logo was embroidered in white and gray on the left side and the name tag she wore announced that she was Jeyne Poole, employee housing office supervisor, from Wintertown apparently.

 

"Now, what can I help you with?" She asked in a much softer voice than before, all of a sudden the perfectly pleasant cliché of customer service. "Keys and room assignment you said? I'll need to see your ID, a driver's license or passport, something of that sort."

 

Gendry pulled out his license and handed it to Jeyne. _Not too bad looking,_ he thought. He'd heard all the Northern girls were hard, frozen women. She looked about average height, with chestnut brown hair worn loose about her shoulders and two braids that went around to the back, keeping the front parts out of her face. She had matching brown eyes, dark with yellowish-orange flecks. _Yes,_ he thought, _maybe I could get used to the North_.

 

"Oh! You're Mr. Waters!” She proclaimed, looking down at his license. “I was wondering when you'd show up. Kings Landing, eh? We'll you've certainly come along way to join us up here. Truthfully, all of us in the housing department were a bit worried when we heard we would need to find a room for you, since you're such a late addition, but we had one of the other male employees quit a few days ago so there is an open room."

 

She handed him a key chain with a house key and a swipe card on it, along with his license back. "Now, don't lose these, the replacements come out of your paycheck. Just wait a second and I'll come show you around a bit and then up to your apartment."

 

"Alright, thanks." Gendry replied, not really sure what to say. A few seconds later Jeyne came out the door beside the window, locked it, and slapped a sticky note reading "Back in 15" on the window. She showed him around the lobby floor, where the laundry room was, the locker rooms for skis and boards, which doors he could use his swipe card to open.

 

"Oh, you don't ski OR snowboard? That'll change, just wait." Jeyne remarked when he said he wouldn't need to use that storage room. Gendry wasn't sure if he was comforted by her statement or not, but he was comforted that she was going out of her way to show him around. She could've just given him his keys and pointed him down the hall.

 

They took the elevator up to the 8th floor and stopped in front of number 813. It smelled like spaghetti sauce in the hallway and Gendry suddently realized that, aside from a couple granola bars and a soda during his layover in White Harbor, he hadn't eaten anything since before he got on the plane in the morning.

 

Jeyne thumbed through her key ring, knocked twice, unlocked the door, and much to Gendry's surprise just opened the door and started on inside. "Hey! Hot Pie, it's Jeyne. I've got your new roommate here... Ohhh, is it dinner time already?"

 

Not sure what else to do, he picked up his suitcase and followed her inside, really hoping it wasn't often that workers invited themselves on into his apartment. Hot Pie came out from the kitchen, wearing a white apron and cheerily greeting Jeyne by pulling her into a tight hug, making her look almost childlike against his large figure. He was a couple inches shorter than Gendry, with a round face and sandy light brown hair. Where Gendry was tall, Hot Pie was round. _What a match we are_ , Gendry thought, _but if it always smells this good in here, I could get used to it._

 

Once Jeyne was released from her bear hug, she looked at them both and gave some cursory introductions. 

 

“Gendry, this is Hot Pie. He's worked here for just about as long as I have, we're in the same year of school at the university in Wintertown together. Hot Pie, this is Gendry Waters, from Kings Landing. Since Lommy had to go home, we're going to be putting him with you. You're the only one with an open room right now, so I hope you don't mind. I figure you'll be glad to have someone else to cook for,” Jeyne said with a laugh. 

 

The two new roommates looked each other over for a moment, with Gendry finally sticking out his right hand and Hot Pie grabbing it to pull him into a hug, the same as he had done with Jeyne, and pushing him to sit down at the kitchen table. 

 

“Well, since it looks like you two will be fast friends, I'll head back down to the office. I've got about a half hour left before the office has to close,” Jeyne said and made her way to the door. 

 

“Wait, Jeyne, you'll come back for dinner, won't you?” Hot Pie asked. “You know I can't cook for just two people, there's enough in that kitchen for an army.”

 

“Course I will, HP, I will. Sansa has her evening class tonight so it'll be better than the takeout that she'll come home with.” 

 

Jeyne left to finish her shift and much to Gendry's surprise, he managed to get along pretty well with Hot Pie. He was also originally from the Kings Landing area and was a second-year culinary arts student at University of Westeros at Wintertown, taking advantage of the extension classes at Winterfell for the hands-on credits he needed to graduate. His aunt and uncle own a pastry and cake shop back at home and he'd been working along side them ever since he could pull a stool up to the counter. At Winterfell he worked as a sous chef at one of the most popular restaurants in the village. Hot Pie showed him around the apartment while they were waiting for Jeyne to get off work and join them for dinner. Despite the look of the building from the outside, it was a rather standard apartment building once you got in, not much unlike the studio Gendry rented back home, albeit this building was much more well-maintained than his previous one. He didn't need much more than standard though, but he was glad when Hot Pie showed him that he would have his own bedroom. 

 

Jeyne got back in about 45 minutes, still wearing her blue work polo. The three of them had dinner and explained more about what Gendry should expect working here. Both Jeyne and Hot Pie were surprised, and although Gendry found it sort of hard to believe, a bit impressed about his internship.

 

“It's not much though,” he said, between bites of the salad Hot Pie had made to go along with the pasta. “I mean, I'm not even going to get paid. I've still gotta get a job, I have to go some orientation thing tomorrow, and someone has yet to tell me what I'll be doing.”

 

Jeyne smiled at him, like she knew exactly what was happening. “You've got your information packet, right? Doesn't it say something about a meeting tomorrow morning? When I started we had a new employee morning meeting where they assigned jobs to those without them, got our work schedules, and then later that evening they held the employee orientation and Stark family greeting.”

 

"Family… greeting…?"

 

“Yea, Stark family greeting. But man, don't worry,” Hot Pie interjected. “The employee orientation and greeting is nothing but a formality and they'll put you in a work position based on what you can do. They're not gonna make you ski patrol when you're fresh outta Kings Landing and ain't never seen a mountain before, are they? And since the Starks keep most of the important positions in the business within their family, they hold a meeting at the beginning and end of each season to introduce themselves to new employees and thank everyone for their work. They like to think that every one of their workers is a part of their own family while they're here. And the best part, there's even some food prepared by yours truly,” Hot Pie said with huge beaming smile.

 

The rest of the evening the three of them spent talking about their families, their lack of families, and what life was like at Winterfell. Jeyne headed home to her apartment around ten, saying that her roommate would be wondering where she was and Gendry settled in to unpacking his bags, again happy that his room was furnished. He checked his information packet before bed, and Jeyne was right. There was a small itinerary outlining his first day. He was to meet at 9am to get his job assignment, schedule, and uniform. His afternoon was all open and then the Stark family greeting was at 6pm that evening in the main hall of the administration building. After making his bed with the extra linens and blankets he found in the hall closet, sleep came quickly to him that night, since he'd been up and worn out from the travel, and the morning came too quickly as well. 

 

Gendry woke up to his cell phone alarm at 7:30am and could already smell the breakfast that Hot Pie was making. After showering and eating a breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes with Hot Pie, he put on a hoodie and then his much too thin winter coat over a long sleeve t-shirt and laced up his tennis shoes, knowing he would most likely need to burn through some of his savings and buy some actual boots during his free time this afternoon. He grabbed his backpack and walked towards the main village with Hot Pie. As Gendry was hopelessly unsure of his way around the resort, Hot Pie went with him through the village to show him where to go, it was on his way to start his prep shift for lunch anyways. The Winterfell corporate and administrative offices were yet another building matching the rest of the souvenir shops, specialty clothing stores, restaurants, and the same main square he had seen from the shuttle the previous night. 

 

“Alright, here you are,” Hot Pie said and handed Gendry a map of the resort. “That's mostly for the customers, there's a trail map of the mountains on one side and a map of the village on the other, so it'll work for you too until you have it all memorized. I'll see you at the Stark family greeting at 6 tonight... meet by the restaurant around 5:45?”

 

Gendry nodded his agreement about the meeting time, but managed to feel like a child getting dropped off by his father for the first day of school. _You don't have a father,_ he told himself. _How would you know how that feels?_ But this wasn't a time for self-pity, so Gendry shook those thoughts away and found his way into the office building. Luckily, the first thing he saw was a sign board pointing the way to the meeting. The meeting room was a good size with long table in front and several rows of chairs facing it. He took a seat in the middle and watched as the room filled to about halfway. Promptly at 9am, he heard the double doors he came in click shut and watched a woman walk to the front of the room. She had pretty heart-shaped face and the same brown hair as Jeyne has, though hers was naturally curly and longer. She also wore the same light blue polo that Jeyne and the shuttle driver had. 

 

“Good morning, shall we start?” she said, with a soft voice that seemed to contradict the confident way she walked through the doors. You'd think she owned the place with the way she walked in, but her voice betrayed her and showed Gendry that she really was not much older than him. “I'd like to thank everyone for coming and wish you good luck in your employment at Winterfell Ski Resort. I'm Jeyne Westerling, HR Supervisor, and I'll be working with you to get your job assignments, if you don't already have them. After you're assigned to a group, you'll meet with your department manager and they'll provide your uniforms and work schedules. Any days off will need to be discussed with your direct department head.” 

 

She stopped for a moment, gathered some of the papers she brought in with her, and took a quick survey of the room. Gendry wasn't sure what she was waiting for, but he was a bit amused by another pretty girl, another Jeyne who looked so much like the first. 

 

“Alright,” Jeyne started again, breaking Gendry out of his thoughts. “Everyone who already has a job assignment, stand up.” About half of the group stood up, grumbling low complaints, clearly not wanting to move again so soon after they had sat down. “All of you have your departments already decided. You may go and join your department heads – if you leave this room and go to your left, there are smaller meeting rooms with each department noted by the room numbers.”

 

Gendry simply sighed and watched as about twenty other new employees marched out the doors. _This is the weirdest job interview I've ever been to, if you can even call it that_ , he thought. _This girl looks the same age as me, how does she have this job?_ Gendry had spent his whole life working, through high school, university, and the summers in between, from as soon as he had been able to get a job. He had taken almost everything that he was even somewhat qualified for - he had experience in fast food joints, he'd bartended, fixed cars, mowed lawns and did landscaping, even worked as a valet and chauffeur at a fancy downtown hotel for a while. Gendry didn't much like having to wear the stuffy outfit that came with the valet job, but he certainly enjoyed getting to drive expensive cars, almost as much as he liked the tips their owners gave him. That was the benefit of having your manners when you needed them.

 

Once everyone that stood up had shuffled through the doors, Jeyne cleared her throat to attract the attention of the remaining group back towards her. "Everyone that is left will now be assigned a job based on the resumes you initially sent in. Myself and the rest of the HR staff have gone through all of your resumes and looked at which departments have openings and which of your would work best in each based on your prior employment history and skill set. As I call your names and work assignments, please come up to the front and take your name badge, then you may join your department meetings down the hall. These jobs can be changed in the future, but we ask that you each please wait at least one month before asking for any changes. Okay, let's get started…."

 

Gendry sat and watched as everyone's names were called off in alphabetical order. He heard different people getting called for catering, office jobs, village and mountain hosts, a couple chair lift operators, even one girl was called for the nursing staff. _All of the interesting jobs are going to be full by the time they get to me_ , he thought. He wondered if he'd be working with anyone here.

 

"…and you must be Gendry Waters, last one left," Jeyne said. Gendry looked around and realized that he was in fact the last person besides Jeyne left in the room. 

 

"I'm used to it, Miss Westerling, being at the end of the alphabet and all, I'm sure you are too," he said politely, but trying to be not quite so serious too. 

 

She laughed quietly at that as Gendry walked up to the front of the room. "You're right at that. And, let me say, I was actually very eager to meet you. I've heard you're the new intern at Baratheon, so congratulations. You know they only choose five people each year? It's quite a difficult internship to get, with all the applicants they get, not just from Westeros either, all the way from Essos too. I've heard they hire them on full-time at the end sometimes." Jeyne gathered up the last of the information she had brought with her and handed it over to Gendry. "I figured that since you'll be working on the design end of things at Baratheon, it might be good for you to know as much about the skis and boards as possible, so I've placed you in rentals and tuning. It's technically part of the Services department, but you'll have a different color uniform… I'm sure you've noticed that by now, right?" 

 

"Yes, my roommate and his friend explained a little bit to me last night. They're in Services and Catering," he replied, and took the packet of information she handed over. 

 

"Good, good. Here's a copy of your resume back for you, as well as some tax forms, a release form that let's us use pictures of your for our media releases, and an insurance form. Since you're a seasonal employee and not full-time you're not eligible for full insurance coverage. However, because most of our employees ski or snowboard we think it best to at least have some sort of health savings account option available for everyone. Here," she said, handing him a dark blue file folder. His name tag was pinned to the top of it - Gendry Waters; Kings Landing, Westeros; Services - Rentals. "All the forms are in there, along with some information regarding the employee housing and a map in case you hadn't picked one up yet. If you can fill out and return the forms in the next few days, that'd be great. Our HR offices are on the third floor of this building."

 

Gendry took the folder and started towards the door, Jeyne following next to him. They went their separate ways at the door and Gendry followed the hallway left to his department meeting. The right hand side of the hallway was decorated with large framed posters and trail maps that looked like they were all older than he was. The left side was door after door, each with a laminated sign posted by the permanent room number which showed what department was meeting was in each room. He came to the room marked Services and stopped outside the closed door for a second before heading inside. 

 

The room was larger than he had expected it to be, but much smaller than the previous meeting room. For some reason he had thought he would be going to the department manager's office, but instead this was just a smaller conference room. There was a long oval table in the center with six other new employees sitting and at the front of the room next to a pull-down projector screen stood a middle-aged man wearing the blue Services polo and very crisp pleated khakis. He looked to be a few inches shorter than Gendry, but he probably had about seventy pounds more on him than he ought to and his face was flushed red as if he'd been outside running. 

 

"Thank you for finally joining us, Mr…?" the man started. 

 

"Gendry Waters, sir."

 

"Well, Mr. Waters, please take a seat," he said, and clapped his hands together. "Everyone, welcome to Winterfell Resort's Services department. If I haven't said already, I'm Bowen Marsh, manager of this department."

 

The rest of the meeting was fairly standard, with Mr. Marsh explaining all of the different areas that the Services department presided over, what he expected from his employees with regards to timeliness and conduct, and then handed out their uniforms. Gendry received six deep blue polo shirts, half short sleeve and half long sleeve, each with the wolf logo embroidered in the top left area. He noticed that everyone else had the light blue colored polos and one of the girls was given a much nicer starched button down shirt in her bundle. Along with the polo shirts, each person also received a heavy ski jacket in a matching color. _This is much nicer than my ratty old jacket I've been wearing_ , Gendry thought, seeing the brand logo on the inside when he checked the size. _North Face, yea, definitely couldn't have bought this for myself_. 

 

There was a bit of commotion in the room with everyone making sure their uniforms were correct and checking the sizes, when one of the girls asked about the rest of their uniform. 

 

"If you've got an office job - housing, hotels, HR, and the like - you'll be expected to wear khakis and black dress shoes or boots. If you're working in shops, ticket sales, or rentals, you're more than welcome to wear jeans and tennis shoes. Village and mountain hosts and guides, you'll want to wear snow pants and boots, since you get to be outside all day. Of course, mountain hosts not working near the lift lines are expected to be in your ski or snowboard boots, with your equipment, and ready to work at whichever area of the mountain you're assigned to that day. Each of your supervisors can give you more information, it's actually not as strict as it sounds." 

 

All in all, Gendry didn't think it sounded too bad. Having to wear a polo shirt and jeans sounded heavenly compared to many of his past uniforms, especially the chauffeur get-up at that posh hotel. After that, Mr. Marsh walked around and passed out everyone's work schedules, and said not to expect these to change all too much during the season. Everyone must have known that Gendry also the internship at Baratheon since there were obvious gaps in his Winterfell work schedule. His schedule had him working Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings from 7:30am until 1pm and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 1pm until 7pm. Today was Wednesday and the first shift he would start with would be his Friday morning shift. 

 

The meeting didn't last too much longer after that. Mr. Marsh let everyone know his office was on the second floor of the building and then most of the people made their way out of the room, with a couple staying back to ask questions. Gendry pulled out his cell phone and checked the time. It was only 10:30am so he decided to walk back to his apartment, put away his new work clothes, and change into his new jacket. The walk back from the main village to the employee housing took about twenty minutes, with Gendry checking his resort map about every three minutes to make sure he was still going the correct way. He put his new work shirts away in the dresser, changed into one of the long sleeve shirts, back into his hoodie, and made his way back towards the village much warmer in his new Winterfell jacket. It took less than fifteen minutes to get back to the main village when he wasn't obsessively checking the map. 

 

The rest of the day Gendry spent wandering around the village trying to get his bearings straight, getting lunch with Hot Pie on his break, and searching the shops to find winter boots at a somewhat reasonable price. A couple hours later and with about a hundred dollars less of his savings intact, after looking through shop after shop at awful snow boots, he finally found a pair that were warm, waterproof, and weren't worth a full month's pay. He sat down on a bench outside the shop and quickly changed out of his tennis shoes and into the boots, putting his tennis shoes, wet from the snow, into the plastic bag the boot shoe box was in, and stuffing them inside his backpack. Happy now that his feet were much warmer and would stay more dry for the rest of the day, he continued his walk around the village, broke down the shoe box and shoved it the best he could into a recycling garbage can, then tried to figure out how to spend the rest of his afternoon. The village was very large and was set up much the same as the outdoor shopping malls they had in Kings Landing, but most of the stores were either the same high priced boutiques with names he knew he should recognize, shops that only sold skis, snowboards, helmets, or something else he had no use for, or kitschy stores for tourists to buy Winterfell souvenirs. _Is there nothing useful for real life in this entire place? Is there a bank, post office, or gods forbid, a grocery store anywhere around here? Hot Pie has to get his groceries somewhere, I doubt he's been nicking them all from the restaurant coolers_ , Gendry thought.

 

He had about two and a half hours now until he had to meet Hot Pie outside the administration building for the Stark Family Greeting, and decided the best way to pass his time was to try and relax a little bit. Gendry didn't know why, but he was oddly nervous for the Stark Family Greeting this evening, or maybe it was that after the meeting there would only be a few short hours until the morning when he would start his internship. Not wanting to walk all the way back to his apartment and then walk back to the village again, he walked into the main village square and stopped in at a coffee shop, Indigo Star Coffee & Tea Traders. Gendry spent the rest of the free time he in the village square with the largest coffee they could sell him, in the outside seating area with his legs propped up by the fire pit, sketchbook up against his legs and pencils moving rapidly, trying to take in everyone he saw. For his degree he had to take more traditional art classes like landscape and figure sketching, and while he had never enjoyed it as much as using a drawing tablet and being able to manipulate his creation on a giant monitor, he loved being able to carry a simple sketchbook and pencils around with him and capture what was around him at a single moment in time. He'd probably mail a couple finished drawings to Professor Mott the next time he had a chance, that was if he could find a post office.

 

Five-thirty rolled around quickly and Gendry was caught off guard when his phone alarm buzzed to let him know it was time to head out. He hadn't even noticed that it was starting to get dark as well. He packed his things up and walked off to find the restaurant from this morning where Hot Pie worked. 

 

He pulled out the resort map and studied as he walked towards what he figured was the right direction. _Now, what was the name of the place Hot Pie worked at?_ Gendry wondered, still eyeing the map as he made his way out of the square. _It was something pretentious sounding, High Valyrian maybe… hah! There it is_ , he thought as he spotted the restaurant, Dracarys Grill, on the map.

 

Quickening his pace and fumbling to fold the map back up, Gendry only managed about three more steps before walking straight into another person. Before he knew what was happening he was on the ground, tangled up in skis and poles and someone's arms and -- 

 

"WHAT the HELL!? Get off me, will ya?" They yelled,which made Gendry realize he was on top of someone on the brick pavement, and that someone was a small girl. 

 

"Oh, gods," he started, trying to apologize, "I… I didn't even see you and --" 

 

"Hey! Could you get your fat ass off me?" She yelled back, cutting him off. She started to try to wriggle free and whipped her head about to him and he caught himself staring back into the stormy grey eyes of a small girl who looked to be a few years younger than he was. She stared back at him, narrowing her eyes almost as a challenge, and he could tell that despite her size he did not want to mess around with her, yet he was having a hard time looking away, reacting, or doing anything really. One second he had his nose to his map and the next second he was lying on the ground on top of feisty girl with eyes that had glued him to that spot. "Oi! Dumb shit! Did you hear me? Get. Off."

 

"Alright, alright," he said finally, and tore himself away from her glare. _Small girl, big mouth_ , he thought and jumped up off her and stood up, offering his hand out to help her up. 

 

"I can do it myself," she growled as she pushed herself up to her feet and started to pick up her skis and poles that had flown all over. 

 

"Fine then, here, at least let me help," Gendry offered and picked up her ski poles that had somehow landed behind them. "Listen, miss, I'm so sorry, I didn’t mean to--"

 

"Don't call me miss!" She said, grabbing her poles from him. "You know, maybe if you weren't so stupid and walking around staring at a map instead of where you're going, you wouldn't bulldoze right into people." He stopped and looked back at her as she finished gathering her things up, and he first noticed the forest green snow pants and matching Winterfell jacket. _Gods, I hope she's working no where near customers… or children_ , Gendry thought to himself. Right then, they both heard the chimes from the clock tower in the square - 5:45pm. "Ugh, I'm going to be late and mom's gonna kill me," she said and looked back at Gendry, square in the eyes. "I will finish yelling at you later," she told him as she turned from him, hiked her skis over her shoulder, and walked away in the other direction as quickly as her boots would allow her to.

 

Gendry watched her walk away and when she turned around he noticed the writing in large white capitol letters on the back of her jacket - SKI SCHOOL. Below that, in a slightly smaller font was her name, Arya. _An oddly pretty name for someone so rough. But there was something about those eyes_ , he couldn't help but think. _Maybe I'll actually look forward her continuing to yell at me_.

 

Remembering that he did have some place to be that evening, Gendry made his way towards Hot Pie's work and met him about halfway there.

 

"Hey, Gendry, what happened? I was worried you'd forgotten about the meeting, or maybe gotten yourself lost," Hot Pie asked.

 

"No, don't worry about that, I haven't forgotten. Too bad you weren't by here a couple minutes earlier," Gendry started. "I practically plowed right into a ski school instructor, knocked her on the ground, skis everywhere. Totally my fault, ya know, but I offered to help and she just yelled at me. Told me she'd yell at me again later too next time she saw me."

 

"Don't worry about it," Hot Pie replied as they started walking towards the administration building. "It's not the first time we've had some spectacular collisions here and on the hill, and it certainly won't be the last. Too bad I missed it though, but Jeyne will definitely want to hear about it." 

 

Gendry listened to Hot Pie talk about his day on the remainder of the walk towards the administration building and was genuinely glad to hear that he thought Gendry's job placements in rentals and tuning would be a good match. He listed off a couple of people he knew of that also worked in some of the rental counters and said that Gendry could try to meet some tonight after all of the speeches and introductions were over. 

 

A few minutes later, they got to the administration building and were able to find Jeyne and the extra two seats she had saved for them. The room was huge, larger than any university lecture hall he had ever been in and aside from company-wide meetings it probably only got rented out for weddings, maybe a high school dance. It was decorated immaculately, halfway between wedding reception and Winter Solstice, real hardwood floors, walls and doors decorated with pine wreaths spotted with bright red weirwood leaves, deep forest green tablecloths with golden stitching on the many large round tables across the room. On the far side of the room there was a large fireplace with a long table full of various appetizers, finger foods, and desserts. The table they were all seated at held about ten people and was three rows back from the large stage in the front of the room. He glanced around quickly and saw that the tables were almost completely full. He thought he recognized the shuttle driver from the day before but he knew he was really just trying to spot that Arya girl he had collided with not twenty minutes earlier. _I bet she'll be late_ , he thought, _unless she shows up in all her gear. Glad that it's not me, I can't imagine how much attention you'd get showing up in the middle of the speeches._ Gendry could tell that Jeyne and Hot Pie both knew the other seven people seated around the table and he started to try to inconspicuously read their name tags when the lights in the room dimmed. The room quieted as everyone's attention was directed towards the stage at the front.

 

"Here they come," Hot Pie whispered to Gendry watched the stage and a family which he could only assume were the Starks filed on from stage right. Most everyone else seemed used to this, but the cheesiness of it reminded Gendry of The Sound of Music, when Baron von Trapp lines up his children to first introduce them to Maria. 

 

The first person to walk across the stage, a tall middle-aged man, broke away from the rest of the family and took the microphone from the stand in the center of the stage. He had hair that was on the slightly longer side, dark brown with a couple streaks of gray throughout and he wore slightly darker khakis with blue Fair Isle patterned sweater. 

 

"Good evening," he started, glancing at someone in the far corner that turned the volume up slightly, as about half the audience murmured a 'good evening' back in response. "I'd like to start first by thanking everyone here for taking time out of their busy work schedules to be here tonight, as well as thank our many returning employees from last season. All of the upper management is very pleased to be able to announce that we had close to eighty percent of last year's seasonal employees join us again this year. For everyone that is new to us this year, my name is Ned Stark and I am lucky enough to be the owner of Winterfell Ski Resort, which has been passed down to me from my father and grandfather before him." 

 

He went on to introduce his wife Catelyn, who stood with perfect poise next to Ned, dark auburn hair spilling slightly past her shoulders onto her dark green cable knit sweater. She wore dark blue denim jeans tucked into black boots, making her close in height to her husband. She worked as the resort's head event planner, managing the conferences and other special occasions, like weddings and family reunions, that often took place on the resort. Next to her was their eldest son Robb, who was tall like his father but in all other ways seemed to favor his mother, slightly fairer skin and the same dark auburn wavy hair. It wasn't said outright, but Gendry assumed that Robb was being groomed to take over the family business one day. 

 

As Ned finished introducing his wife and Robb, Hot Pie leaned poked Gendry's arm and leaned over. "They're missing a daughter…" he whispered. Sure enough, there was an awkwardly large gap between the next daughter and the following son.

 

"Next, my daughter Sansa. Now, I normally don't go too deep into my children's personal lives, but many of you know Sansa personally or have seen her compete in the various slalom competitions held here over the years. I wanted to take this time to formally announce that Winterfell has been selected to host the World Winter Games in January." The whole room went up in applause and he could tell that Sansa was trying her hardest to contain her excitement in front of the crowd. Gendry was surprised to see Sansa also closely resembled her mother, he could imagine that she the spitting image of her mother at that age. Much like her mother, she held herself poise and a sense of pride as if she had been taught from a young age exactly how to compose herself. She wore a long heather gray sweater and a khaki corduroy a-line skirt over thick gray wool tights and brown knee-high boots. "Now,” Ned started again as the applause died down. He walked over and put his arm around Sansa. “I know we've had some setbacks before, but I know that this season is going to be --”

 

Ned's speech was cut off by the large hall doors opening and from his seat Gendry was able to see a short girl running towards the front and then up the stairs to the stage. He looked at the girl running up towards the stage, forest green Winterfell jacket, black jeans tucked into gray clunky looking snow boots. 

 

“Sorry!” She yelled, halfway up the stairs. “Dad, I'm so sorry I'm late, there was this problem with lessons, and... and...” She kept trying to explain and catch her breath.

 

“Alright, everyone,” Ned said, laughing as he quieted her and ushered he towards her spot next to Sansa. “This is my daughter Arya... she really does know how to make an entrance, right?” Ned was laughing, Robb and the next youngest son, the one in the wheelchair, both had smirks on their faces, and in stark contrast to Catelyn and Sansa who were practically shooting daggers from their eyes into Arya, the youngest sibling was almost exploding with laughter down at the very end of the line.

 

Gendry couldn't stop staring. _It's her. Her. That little slip of a girl that ran into me with the power of a half dozen linebackers in the village square._ She looked up at the audience and he immediately saw the similarities between Arya and her father. She didn't have the refined looks passed down in her mother's genes, but _Gods_ , Gendry thought, _everything about her just looks wild, willful_. As a given, he did know she'd just ran halfway across the village and maybe her wavy brown hair just looked like messy bed-head since she'd worn a ski helmet all day, but once he saw the way her eyes frantically scanned the conference room and the big smile she gave when her father put his arm around her, he knew not only would he have to apologize for earlier, but he was determined to find out if she always looked like this – flushed, slightly mussed up, but not that mussed up look some girls do on purpose. Unlike everyone else on stage, she was not trying to impress everyone, especially compared to the rest of her family, which made Gendry rather intrigued.

 

“So, where was I?” Ned started again. Gendry didn't really catch much after that, he kept trying to think of an excuse to go up to her after the introductions were finished. Finally, about ten minutes later, all the formalities were finished and tables of people started to mingle around and search for food. Eyes still on the stage, he watched as Robb walked off the stage towards two other guys his age and the younger two Starks, Bran and Rickon made off towards the food tables. At the other end, Arya followed her mother and sister in to the backstage area. _This can't be good_ , he thought. _I'd hate to go anywhere with those two with the looks on their faces. I guess I'll have to find a way to catch up with her later._

 

“Well, leave it to Arry to keep everyone on their feet, eh?” Hot Pie said as they got up from their table. “I was waiting the whole time for her to show up but I didn't think her entrance would be that amusing.”

 

“I guess it's my fault,” Gendry said under his breath as he started to walk with Hot Pie and Jeyne over towards the buffet tables. 

 

Jeyne stopped and eyed him oddly for a few seconds. “That's just Arya, you'll see. She'd be late on purpose just to put her mother through hell. Besides, why would it be your fault?”

 

“Well, ya see... I started to tell Hot Pie before but I had a bit of an accident in the square on my way here. That's her, Hot Pie. I ran head first into _her_ ,” he explained, emphasizing the 'her' and nodding his head towards the stage, “and because I'm such an idiot we ended up tangled up together on the ground. I really should apologize and I was going to try to catch up with her here during dinner but it looks like she's gone and not in for a good night if the look on Mrs. Stark's face means anything.”

 

Hot Pie laughed and put his large arm around Gendry's shoulder, pulling him in towards himself and Jeyne as they moved through the crowd. “Don't worry, Arry's a tough one. Anything her mum sends her way she can handle and most often she'll dish it right back at her. And besides, it's a good story. New guy in town is the cause of the little she-wolf's tardiness at the all important family introduction?” He said and Jeyne started to giggle at the obvious melodrama. “See? I told you that Jeyne would love to hear the story.”

 

“Oh, I definitely love it. I've got an awesome image in my head right now. Skis every where in front of the large wolf statue, Arya Stark looming over our dear Gendry, parents covering their children's ears because of all her yelling...” Jeyne continued, but stopped once she noticed the look on Gendry's face – clearly not as amused as her and Hot Pie. “Really though, if you want to apologize, you can come with us on Friday. Her half-brother is throwing a party at his apartment in Wintertown. Everyone'll be there.”

 

Smiling, Gendry looked down at Jeyne. “Of course... a party. Definitely, I'll be there.” _That's my chance,_ he thought, _this will give me the perfect chance to apologize and find out what her deal is_. “Now, let's get to the food! I've got to try some of Hot Pie's famous cooking.”

  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Next chapter: Arya's POV. I hope I was able to make Gendry and Jeyne sound believable. I've got so many great writers to look up to for Gendry but there really isn't too much to go on for Jeyne in fics or in the books, so I'm trying to develop somewhat of a personality for her._


	4. Chapter 4

**FOUR: ARYA STARK**

**WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16**

Surrounded by a group of three seven-year olds, Arya stood off to the side of Maiden's Voyage green run holding the hair of a fourth girl while she threw up on the side of run. Her group had been fine until about ten minutes ago, when one of the girls in her lesson group started complaining that she had a headache and felt like she needed to throw up.

_Just my luck,_ Arya thought. _It'd have be today that one of these little rugrats gets altitude sickness. The one day when I actually have to be somewhere._

Arya had tried to plan everything out for today. It would work out perfectly. Up until now everything had been going according to her plan. She'd woken up with her alarm at 6:30 and only hit snooze once, a feat that she was very proud of. She ate breakfast in relative peace and quiet with the housekeeper and sometimes cook, Nan, and then met up with a girl in her early teens for a private intermediate lesson for the whole morning. The intermediate lessons were always her favorite. Arya knew that she was good at her job, and she loved working with students that understood the basics and were still eager to learn more and improve. She had actually worked with this same girl in previous lessons and even the little bit of familiarity made the morning so much easier. The intermediate end point was at the lodge at the top of Castle Black Peak so once again she was able to eat with Jon. Ygritte was even there to join them today.

Though Arya would never admit it out loud, she was jealous of Ygritte. _She's pretty much got everything I want_ , Arya thought. _We both have jobs we love but she's got no one to hold her back from what she wants to do. No Catelyn Stark to make her feel like her job is just a hobby. Hell, she's even got an awesome boyfriend who is clearly head over heels for her… even if it is my dork of a brother._

The group lesson she was teaching was set to end at four-thirty, so she'd would drop the children at the meeting place at the Castle Black base area and then have plenty of time to get back to the staff changing rooms, take a shower, and change into the horrible outfit Sansa and her mother had chosen for her to wear to the Stark Family Greeting at 6pm. That was until the girl decided that throwing up on the side of the mountain seemed like a great idea. _I told her to eat more, told her that she needed to drink more water even if she wasn't thirsty. But did she listen to me? No, why would she do that?_ She should've known better than to think that all of that planning would get pulled off without a hitch.

When it seemed like the little girl couldn't possibly have any more in her stomach to throw up, Arya asked if she thought she was okay to make it down the rest of the hill on her own, or else they'd need to call the ski patrol. The little girl nodded and said she could make it, and then pulled her gloves and helmet back on. As she readied herself again, Arya took the chance to check the time.

It was 5:10pm. She could partially tell just by how much daylight they had lost, but luckily they weren't too far from the base. The lifts were all stopped for the day so luckily they just had to make it the rest of the way down. Once all her students were ready, they followed her tracks behind her, weaving in giant turns across the wide and gently sloping run. It is normally one of the most popular runs to finish the day on, starting at the very top of Castle Black peak and then casually winding its way back and forth across the front face of the mountain. The lower parts of the run make their way through many of the ski-in ski-out access houses and timeshares scattered around the lower part of the mountain before ending in front of the main base area.

Today, however, was different. The light was slowly dissipating and since the run was almost empty, Arya moved a bit more quickly down the mountain than she would normally take, with her tail of children following her like ducklings behind their mother. Thankfully they were able to keep up and there was no more vomiting on the side of the mountain. The four kids were soon reunited with the group of parents waiting at the bottom, all of which were looking at the same time worried yet annoyed. They were forty-five minutes late so it was surprising that Arya hadn't gotten any calls on her walkie-talkie yet.

Arya quickly walked the young girl over to her mother, explained what happened loud enough so that hopefully some of the other annoyed looking moms would hear her, before tossing her skis over her shoulder and walking off to the staff changing rooms as fast as she could.

_Seven hells_ , Arya thought as she trudged her way towards the village center. _I'm going to need to have a talk with Dad about this. There's no good reason why the changing rooms are on the opposite side of the village from the lifts._

She would have to go across the main village, change into her 'presentable' outfit, and then book it back to the administration building, which she would actually pass on the way to the lockers. At least with the big clock tower in the village square she could catch what time it was without having to stop walking and put down her skis to check her cell phone.

Five-thirty.

"Five-thirty?!" Arya said aloud, maybe too loud as she saw a couple people turn their heads towards her. Keeping up her pace but still staring at the clock she made to finish her way across the square. "Oh, shit, shit shit," she mumbled under her breath. "Gods help me, I can't be late for -"

In a matter of seconds, Arya's situation when from "sort of a raw deal" to "worst day ever." Without any warning, she felt the wind suddenly knocked out of her as she fell to the ground, pinned under some guy she didn't know, with skis and poles strewn about everywhere.

_Well, that's certainly the first time I've yard-saled without being on the mountain_ , she thought and smirked a bit. But any amusement quickly faded, only to be replaced with anger. Anger at being late, anger at getting into a collision in front of everyone in the main square, and mostly, anger at this unknown man who had her pinned on the hard bricks on her back.

"WHAT the HELL!? Get off me, will ya?" She yelled, hoping to free her arms so she could push him off.

"Oh, gods," he started, his voice startled and frantic sounding. "I… I didn't even see you and -"

"Hey! Could you get your fat ass off me?" Arya yelled again, louder this time, cutting off whatever he was struggling to say. Frustrated that she couldn't get her arms out, Arya quickly spun her head around to see exactly what she was dealing with. He must have had the same idea in mind, as soon as she saw him she stopped cold. _Gentle fucking Mother_ , Arya thought, _he's strong_. And she stared, forgetting for a few short seconds that she was angry, or that she was on her back in the square, and could only focus the dark blue eyes that were intently set on her and the slightly wavy black hair that was partially hanging in front of them. She couldn't stop herself from staring back at him, but once he blinked she was transported right back to where she was and right back to her growing rage. She changed her look of surprise to back to fury and glared back at him, as if challenging him to do something. But he didn't. _Is he so dumb that he's just going to lay here on top of me?_ Arya thought. "Oi! Dumb shit! Did you hear me? Get. Off."

"Alright, alright," he said at last. _About damn time_ , Arya thought. _Bloody hells, what is he doing now?_ She gave him a mortified look when he pushed himself off her and then held his hand out to help up off the ground.

"I can do it myself," she spat back at him and picked herself up, ignoring the hand that was still awkwardly thrust out in front of her.

"Fine then, here, at least let me help," He offered as he gathered up her ski poles that had somehow landed behind him. "Listen, miss, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't call me miss!" She said and snatched her poles out of his hand. "You know, maybe if you weren't so stupid and walking around staring at a map instead of where you're going, you wouldn't bulldoze right into people." Once they were both upright, she noticed how much bigger than her he was. Sure, ninety percent of grown adults and most middle-schoolers were bigger than she was, but he was easily a foot taller. He watched her awkwardly while she gathered the rest of her things and she noticed that he was wearing a very clean, most likely brand new deep blue Winterfell jacket along with obviously brand new snow boots. She was just thinking about how stupid her brother's fiancé Jeyne must be to hire someone like this when they both looked up at the clock tower chiming again, this time to let everyone in earshot know that it was five forty-five. "Ugh, I'm going to be late and mom's gonna kill me," she said as she stared at him again, making sure to catch his gaze. She knew that not showing fear and starting straight into people's eyes helped them to take her words seriously, despite her small stature. "I will finish yelling at you later," she warned, then finally looked away from him when she tossed her skis back up over her shoulders and practically ran across the rest of the square, finally making it to the changing rooms and flinging the doors open.

_Alright_ , she thought. _Thanks to running in to that stupid boy I'll be horribly late not to mention I've got no time to shower and change into the outfit from mom. Well, at least that part isn't horrible._

Trying to save as much time as possible, Arya haphazardly threw her skis and poles into the tall locker, put her boots in beside those, and quickly pulled on the black jeans she'd worn that morning and her big grey snow boots. She didn't even want to think about the amount of shit she'd catch back at home tonight for showing up late and dressed in her street clothes, but when the choice was showing up like that or not showing up at all, it wasn't much of a choice.

Arya put back on her green Winterfell jacket as she ran back out the door and sprinted across the square towards the administration building. The bells on the clock tower were chiming for quarter after six as she pulled open the large double doors into the huge ballroom the family greeting was always held in and launched herself inside.

As the doors opened, everyone's attention quickly went from Ned's introduction of Sansa and the World Winter Games straight to Arya whom, due to her snow boots, was running rather clumsily towards the stage. She didn't notice any of the staff sitting at the tables staring, all she could notice was her dad's surprised face and how ridiculously difficult it was to run this far in snow boots and her heavy jacket.

"Sorry!" She yelled as she ran up the small staircase on the side of the stage, hoping that no one notice how she almost tripped over the last step. "Dad, I'm so sorry I'm late, there was this problem with lessons, and... and..." She stopped and bent over, hands resting on her knees as she tried to explain yet breathe at the same time.

"Alright, everyone," she heard her dad say as he helped her stand up straight before putting his arm around her and guiding her back to her appropriate place in line, right between Robb and Sansa. "This is my daughter Arya... she really does know how to make an entrance, right?" Arya was glad that her dad was laughing, and as she looked around she saw that Robb and Bran were amused but new better than to show it. She only chanced the slightest looks at her mother and sister, knowing that if looks could kill she'd be dead on that stage at the moment. The best part in her mind was that Rickon was down on the end, laughing hysterically and showing no signs of realizing that his behavior might not be acceptable.

"So, where was I?" Her dad said, started the introductions again. As she stared out into the audience, trying to see if she could make out where any of her friends were sitting, she vaguely heard her dad talk a little bit about her, then for a while about Bran - his accident and how Winterfell is now very proud of its comprehensive adaptive skiing programs. After finishing up introducing Rickon, there were a few more formalities, really the same each year, and then the part that everyone had been waiting for - the food. It was like inviting a group of college students to a free buffet. They'd all gladly listen to the same speech year after year as long as the reward of free home-cooked food was available.

When his speech was done, Arya didn't waste a second in trying to bolt off the stage in search of her friends, some food, and a few minutes of sanity to spare before she had to deal with the repercussions of barging in like she had.

She got no such thing.

"Arya Lyanna Stark, where do you think you're going?" Catelyn's voice was calm yet forceful, and it cut through the noise of the crowd, stopping Arya mid-step dead in her tracks.

"I… ugh, was just going to grab some food…" Arya replied as she turned to face toward her mom, but continued to look at her shoes. "I had lessons all day so I'm starving."

"Well, young lady, you'll be happy to know that Nan went grocery shopping today and has the fridge at home stocked full. You'll have plenty to eat and I'm sure we'll have plenty to discuss as well."

_Fuck._

There was no use in protesting when her mother used that tone. Arya was normally a fighter, but after today eating some dinner and enjoying a quiet night was starting not to sound bad.

"Fine, let's go then if that's what we're doing," Arya replied and started to make her way off stage, watching her sister start towards the other side of the stage.

The regular lights had been flipped back on and she saw her father and Robb talking with some of the other managers and Robb's fiancé Jeyne Westerling, who was manager of the HR department. Rickon had already barreled off towards the buffet like a wolf to the slaughter and Bran had made his way down the ramp on the side of the stage and was pushing himself in the crowds towards Meera Reed, his girlfriend, or something like that. They never actually confirmed or denied the rumors. With Meera she saw the rest of her closest friends, Hot Pie, Jeyne Poole, who both Arya and Sansa had grown up with, Ned Dayne, her ex-boyfriend who turned out to be a much better friend … _but who was that with them_ , she thought to herself. There was someone with them she hadn't seen before and while normally a new hire wouldn't get her attention that much, there was something familiar about him. She squinted into the crowd to try and see a bit better, but the mystery employee soon turned around.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Arya grumbled softly under her breath. She looked at her mom and it was clear she hadn't heard. _There he is_ , she thought, watching what looked like Hot Pie introducing him to everyone. _Not only was he here, and on time, but it looks like I won't be able to avoid him the rest of the season. Dear gods, could it get any worse?_

"Thank you for cooperating," Catelyn said, then spotted Sansa going the other way. "Oh, Sansa, I'm sorry dear. Why don't you come have dinner with us? Nan was talking about how much she misses having you around the other day."

_Why, yes, yes of course it could get worse._

"Alright, mom. You know how much I love Nan's cooking." Sansa said, joining them as they walked off stage. "I'll give Jeyne a call once we get to the car and see if she'll come get me after dinner so you won't have to go out again."

The politeness was enough to almost make Arya gag. _Could she be anymore perfect?_ Arya thought to herself. _She'd never show up late to anything, especially not underdressed. Her hair's even in place after a day in a ski helmet whereas I look like I stuck my head in Nan's food processor. I guess we can't all be the golden child._

"Arya! Are you coming or not?" Sansa yelled, already off stage and halfway down the back hallway. _Well, she can certainly be a bit of a snot to me when she wants to._

"Ugh, yes, Sansa." She grumbled and half ran the rest of the way to catch up with them.

The car ride back home short but still painfully awkward. They didn't live too far from the village, but her mother maintained that despite living in the North for 23 years she still had a hard time getting used to the cold weather this time each year when fall gave way to winter. Arya thought she was just being difficult. She sat in the middle row of her mom's Escalade, playing with her phone, mostly texting Jon to complain. The only conversations were between Catelyn and Nan, asking her to start up a quick dinner for the three of them, and Sansa talking to her roommate Jeyne to ask her to come pick her up later in the evening.

When the finally got to the house, Nan let them know that it would be about a half hour until dinner was ready. Hoping that maybe looking a little bit more proper like her mother had always wanted would make her go a little bit easier on her tonight, Arya announced that she was going to run upstairs and take a quick shower and change before dinner was ready. Catelyn simply nodded and Arya turned and hurried upstairs to her bedroom. Shutting her door behind her, she jumped in the shower to wash the day off her and then tried to pick out some clothes that might appease her mother. It was a long shot and she was sure it wouldn't make the problem go completely away, but maybe looking a little more ladylike would help. _It definitely couldn't hurt_ , she thought. Her mother and Sansa were always buying her tops and nice pants or skirts and all they did was take up space in her closet. Sansa was a size smaller than her and over half a foot taller so it wasn't even like she could take the clothes back for herself if she wanted them. She'd had on old jeans and a dark grey Under Armour long sleeve top but she'd have to do better than that. After standing and staring at her closet, she finally picked out a clean pair of dark skinny jeans, that she actually liked, and settled on a metallic-y purple loose blouse that Sansa had bought for her. She had to admit; it didn't look too bad and even sort of matched her dark brown hair and grey eyes.

Dinner was another mostly silent affair, at least from Arya's side of things. Sansa couldn't shut up about anything, from how excited she was that the Winter Games would be held at Winterfell to explaining to their mom about how awesome the Bukowski and ee cummings poems she was reading in her 20th Century Westerosi poetry were. She'd be lying out her teeth if she tried to say she didn't feel the same way about both of those things, but gods be damned if she was going to let either of them know that she had interests in common with Sansa, outside of the few they already knew about. She sat there and finished her dinner while they had their conversation, neither of them pausing to mention that she looked nice, except for Nan when she had went into the kitchen to grab a couple serving spoons that were forgotten.

"Sansa, do you mind helping Nan with the dishes? You know she's been starting to get a little bit slower now that she's getting older and I'm sure she'd appreciate the help. I'd like to talk to Arya alone for a little while." Catelyn said, pulling her napkin off her lap and folding it neatly on her dinner plate. _Oh crap, I guess smelling nice and putting on a blouse didn't help in the end_ , Arya realized.

"Yea, it's not a problem. I don't mind at all." Sansa gathered and stacked their dirty dishes and headed towards the kitchen, before turning around and smiling at the both of them. "Maybe I can even get Nan to give up her secret recipe for that macaroni salad." With that, she excused herself and went to help clean up.

After a few seconds of horrible silence between herself and her mother, she decided it might be best if she went on the offensive and broke the silence.

She cleared her throat and started. _Time to grovel_ , she thought. "Listen, mom, I'm so sorry. I know it's not acceptable to be late to official functions and I understand that I made us all look bad up there by being late and showing up in my regular clothes. I didn't mean to be late, honest, I didn't. I was doing great, on time. I swear it, mom. I planned on showering and changing into that awful outfit Sansa picked out, but one of my ski school kids got altitude sickness and spent forever throwing up on the side of Maidens Voyage… and if that's not the worst, I'm already late when some new employee crashes headfirst into me in the middle of the village square. It's all true, mom. About a million people saw it happen. It won't happen again, mom, really." She finally took a deep breath after word vomiting out that apology. It was so fast she wasn't completely sure afterwards what she'd said or if she meant all of it.

"Whatever the reason for your tardiness tonight, it doesn't matter now. It's not just this though, Arya, and you know it." Catelyn said, using that soft but stern voice which meant she was not messing around. "Robb and Jeyne are getting married in a few months, Sansa's got her big competition coming up… maybe it'd be a good idea for you to spend sometime with your Uncles Bynden and Edmure in Riverrun. There's a UW Riverrun campus there and I'm sure you'd get in, your grades from high school were decent. You just aren't doing anything with your life here, I'm afraid you're stagnating."

_Stagnating?_ She repeated in her head. In that moment in Arya's mind, the tables had turned and it was back to how it normally was - furious Arya trying to convince her mother that she was not the same person as any of her siblings. _What the hell is that supposed to mean? My life is not stagnant. I can't believe my mother just compared by life choices to a gross warm pond._

"Well, shit mom, what is that?" Arya said, somewhere between that firm voice she uses with her students and her usual yell. She didn't want Sansa and Nan to come out of the kitchen or being able to hear what was going on. "Why is it fine for you and Dad and Robb to work at the resort but it's not okay for me to do the exact same thing? How is that fair? I'm the most requested ski lesson instructor in the whole resort. Does that not matter to anyone?"

"Arya, you know we're glad that you're good at your job here, but your father and I just want to make sure you're not missing out on any opportunities that you don't have here."

"No. Don't you dare," she started, grabbing her phone off the table and standing up. "Don't you dare being dad into this, I know these are your thoughts and not his. You can as try much as you want, but sorry, mom, I'm not moving to Riverrun just to get a degree I won't use and look around for someone to marry."

She unlocked her phone and quickly started typing.

"Who are you calling, Arya?"

"Not that you care, but I'm texting Jon to let him know that I'll be making use of his couch tonight." Arya replied, hitting send on the text to Jon and walking out of the dining room and up towards her room, she quickly changed out of her nice shirt, pulled on old hoodie from the floor, grabbed some clothes for tomorrow and ran down the stairs, shoving her clothes in a backpack as she went.

_Why does she have to be like this_ , Arya thought, walking through the laundry room to get to the back door. _It used to be every time I'd bring home a grade that wasn't up to her liking or when I'd refuse to play the role she wanted me to in front of guests, but now it's almost every conversation we have. It's like she's starting to provoke me just because she can. Gods, even talking to Sansa would be preferable._

As soon as her hand reached the door handle, she heard the laundry room door click shut behind her. Sansa.

_Seriously? I didn't mean talking to her right now._

"You know it doesn't have to be like this, Arya."

"It's not my fault, not this time," she started, sitting down on the bench by the door and putting on her snow boots. "You've gotta believe me, I didn't mean to be late. Really there was -"

"Yes, yes, Arya, I heard. Sick children, collisions in the square… I wouldn't believe it normally but I don't think anyone would make up an excuse that implausible, even you. Just try a little harder, that's all mom really wants anyways. None of us want to see you waste your life away." Sansa said as she folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the dryer.

"You always make it sound so simple, you know. And maybe it is for you, since everything seems to come to you so easily, but it isn't like that for me. I can't play the lady just because mom asks me to."

"Fine, Arya, then go. Run to Jon's apartment and complain to him for the night. But you know what, it won't solve anything. Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away, believe me I learned that the hard way. You've got to grow up a bit and figure out what you're doing here." With that, Sansa shot one last look at Arya and calmly turned and left her alone.

_Great_ , Arya said to herself, just great. _Now I've not only got mom mad at me, but Sansa's decided to get her hand in the action as well._

She picked up where she left off lacing up her boots, grabbed her hat and coat from where they'd been sitting on top of the dryer, and finished putting everything on. She opened the door and let herself out onto the side of the house and started the walk to the corner to catch the bus to Wintertown. _It's going to be a long night._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Thank you to everyone who is reading this! I am seriously amazed. I know that the story up until now has been Arya x Gendry, but like the description says, there is a Sansa x Sandor element to it as well. I realize it makes me a bit of a rarity to like both Arya AND Sansa. Chapter 5 will be a Sansa chapter. There will also be some later chapters with other POVs as well to help get some other viewpoints on our main characters' situations. If you're not a Sansa person, please stick with me!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Here's the first Sansa POV. I really tried to make her seem a bit likeable, since I like her, and I do have a good idea in my head of her relationship with Arya, it's just hard to get it to show sometimes. I hope it's okay! I've probably been most nervous about putting up this chapter since most people have very strong Sansa opinions. Anyways... next chapter up after this Gendry's POV. I'm getting them closer to meeting again but this story is a slow mover. I'm one for lots of details and I'm enjoying diving more into Gendry's life and making him his own person. I feel like sometimes stories just show him as part of Arya.

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**SANSA STARK**

**THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17**

She was flying. At the very least, it felt like flying. She had been standing at one of the many scenic overlooks on Shadow Tower peak, her skis propped up against the bench that was made of weirwood logs. The view from here was one of the best in the resort and with the weather all blue skies like it was today she could see all of the resort village, to Wintertown, to the foothills and some of the low green valleys past them. It was perfect.

When she made her way back to her skis to finish the run and snapped her boots back into her skis, everything changed. There was a low rumble under her feet and suddenly all of the noises around her came into sharp focus - the sound of the wind, birds chirping. The only thought in Sansa's head was that this could not possibly happen. She wasn't off-piste. This was one of the most popular runs for slalom training. It's hard-packed and groomed regularly. They avalanche blast all the time on all three peaks, this shouldn't be happening.

It was happening.

The fractures started forming about twenty meters above her and knowing she had to do something, she pushed off down the run, despite knowing she couldn't stay in front of it. _I need to fly_ , she thought, and used all her might to remember her training, crouching low to keep her speed up. She quickly looked over her shoulder to see the wall of white powder was finally catching up to her, and then something must have gone wrong. Her skis had crossed, gotten wrenched around each other somehow because in a split second they had popped off and she began falling head over heels. When she finally stopped rolling, she was on the side of the run, frozen and staring wide-eyed upwards at the wall coming towards her. Everything she had been taught by her coach, all of the skills she'd learned from Jon and Ygritte when they would drag her out for a day in the backcountry, none of that came to her. She felt glued to the spot. She knew she should feel terrified but instead she sat and stared as if she was in a trance, heart pounding, breathing heavily and waiting.

She felt a strong arm grab around her waist and pull her off to the side, behind a tree and out of the way. Soon a large jacket with a white fur lined hood was draped over her shoulders. Looking up at her savior, she found herself caught in dark slate grey eyes.

"You're alright now, Little Bird," the gruff voice grumbled. "You're alright. I've got you."

She returned his stare and held on to him tightly, heart still beating out of her chest, she was unable to catch her breath and slowly closed her eyes.

"Stay with me, Little Bird," he commanded, shaking her softly to try and keep her from passing out. "...please, Sansa..."

"Sansa!" She barely heard a yell, but it wasn't him this time, it was a very faint girl's voice, and he was no longer shaking her, her eyes were still closed, but the darkness turned to light and kept getting brighter and brighter.

"Sansa!" The girl's voice yelled again.

She jolted upright in bed, her hair was falling out of its braids and the light blue comforter bunched up around her waist. Her cell phone alarm was blaring and vibrating like crazy on her bedside table and her roommate Jeyne had flipped on the lights and made her way halfway to the bed.

"Gods, Sansa, are you okay?" She asked, arms folded across her waist, shifting her weight back and forth between her feet nervously, not knowing whether to keep standing or sit down on the bed. "Another nightmare?"

Catching her breath and visibly shaken, Sansa just nodded. She squinted at the bright light overhead and reached over to the bedside table and fumbled to grab her phone to turn off the alarm.

_Same dream every couple of nights_ , Sansa thought. _I'm at the lookout on Shadow Tower, the avalanche comes, and then skiing, falling, maybe even flying,_ she corrected _, down the hill. Right when I give up, he's there. Sandor. He saves me but then I always pass out in his arms and wake up, scaring the life out of Jeyne each time._

"There's some breakfast in the kitchen if you want it. Coffee, too. Hurry though, it'll be cold soon." Jeyne said, trying to bring the atmosphere in the room back to normal. _She's almost used to seeing me wake up like this_ , Sansa realized. _Jeyne almost called an ambulance the first time but now it practically doesn't faze her_. "If there's anything you need, let me know. I've got the early shift today so I'll probably be gone by the time you're out of the shower, but you know we're I'll be, down at the main housing office, same as usual."

Sansa looked at her phone. Thursday, 6:37am. She didn't know how Jeyne did it, especially after working two shifts yesterday. She was dressed in her work polo and the rest of her uniform, no doubt she'd showered since her hair was pulled back in two braids that joined at the back of her head, and she'd already eaten breakfast. Sansa felt like a ton of bricks had been piled on top of her during the night.

They had both stayed up late last night, Sansa talking about what an embarrassment it was when Arya ran in late to the family greeting the night before, as if it was nothing. As if all of the employees weren't present and watching her family. They had to set a good example, that was what her mother always said. Really though, all the employees were able to show up on time and then there comes Arya, barreling on stage just in time for her father to introduce her, as if it was a comedy routine they had all practiced at home beforehand. Back at the house that night, Arya had tried to explain herself, something about one of the children in her lesson getting altitude sickness, being late from having to take them to the first aid station, and then colliding with a new employee in the main pathway in the village. Sansa wasn't sure what to think of it. Knowing Arya, it seemed plausible enough. _Arya thinks it all comes so easy to me,_ Sansa thought. _All the courtesies and manners, but it doesn't. She'll never understand how hard I try, how much I wish I could be wild like her and stop caring for even a little while._

"Thanks, Jeyne... for breakfast, waking me up, dealing with... this...," she paused and gestured at herself and the state her bed was in, then looked over at her roommate, who just smiled widely at her, knowingly. "Is it okay if I eat dinner with you tonight at Hot Pie's? I'm kind of tired of eating carry-out."

Jeyne nodded. "Of course. I'll text him on my way to work but I know he won't mind. He cooks like he's the mother of a family of ten anyways. But you need to get ready now if you want to get all your practice time in this morning. I'll see you later."

Jeyne turned and closed the door behind her. Getting up from the bed, she took the hair ties out of her braids and shook each of them out. She could hear Jeyne rummaging around in the living room and knew she was piling her textbooks into her backpack so she could get some reading done during her shift at work.

Getting ready that morning was a slow process. She took her long red hair and spun it into a makeshift bun at the crown of her head before getting into the shower. All she could think about was the scene Arya had made the previous night, which even she had to admit, despite how upset it made their mother, it must have been pretty amusing for all the workers. As she stood under the stream of hot water, her mind wandered to something else about the night before.

The World Winter Games were going to be held at Winterfell this season, her father had announced during his speech. Nervous didn't begin to scratch the surface. Of course she knew the Games would be held next January, the third week, every third year, same as always had been, but her father had chosen that moment on stage to reveal that Winterfell would be the host resort. It had been a while since Winterfell had hosted the games, with previous competitions held in the Eyrie, the Hills of Norvos, even once farther north than Winterfell, at the Fist of the First Men and the Frostfangs. About this time three years ago, when she was seventeen, she'd been competing at the Westerosi Ski Championships, the most important competition of her life so far, it would determine the Westerosi ski team members that would represent the seven provinces at the previous Winter Games at the Eyrie, in the Mountains of the Moon. The minimum age was sixteen, so at seventeen it had been her first chance to make the team.

"And I choked," Sansa whispered out loud to herself, leaning her head and shoulders against the tiled shower wall. _They were all watching me_ , she thought. Only her mother and coach had accompanied her to the competition, but she knew her Dad, siblings, Theon, Jeyne, and the rest of their family and friends were all watching back at the old house. _They were all there - sitting in front of the large fireplace and larger television, watching me doubt myself, choke, miss my start, and clock one of the worst times of my career on national television_.

_I'll show them all this year, I have to. Maybe I wasn't ready back then, too young, too much going on. But I've changed so much since then,_ she thought.

It was true. She had more free time with her university class scheduling, much more so than in high school. Almost every morning was devoted to practice, afternoons were for university classes or her cross-training sessions, evenings were for homework and much needed off-time. To many this schedule still seemed on-the-go, but compared to high school and trying to balance other extra-curriculars like her singing lessons with ski practice and traveling to competitions it was almost downright leisurely. The most significant change was that shortly after not making the Westerosi team she'd finally broken up with Joffrey, her long-distance boyfriend of almost four years. His father, Robert Baratheon, was the CEO and owner of Baratheon Industries and because the offices for Baratheon Snow were located at Winterfell, his family accompanied him on his quarterly visits and would come up for Winter Solstice to stay at their large villa. Perhaps more importantly, was the fact that Robert Baratheon was an old childhood friend of her father and that meant that when the Baratheon's visited they spent most of their free time visiting with the Starks. Her mother and father had tolerated Joffrey while they dated, since it was mostly long-distance and he was able to turn on his proper manners when he felt it necessary, but everyone else in her family, especially Arya, was quick to point out exactly how much of a little shit he was and how much better they thought Sansa could do.

The water was slowly cooling off as Sansa finished rinsing her body wash off. _They were right all along_ , she thought. Sure, he'd always had harsh words for her, getting angry quickly, grabbing her small wrists tight enough to bruise, but he would apologize and shower her with flowers and gifts afterwards. It was only after she lost that competition that everything changed. She had decided to take a break from everything and packed her bags to visit Joffrey at the large Baratheon country estate in Storm's End, just outside the capitol area.

He had seemed excited to see her when she got into the limo with him at the airport, surrounded by his parents and younger siblings. It quickly changed once they arrived at Storm's End and found themselves alone. She'd forgotten most of what Joffrey had said, but she remembered he was livid, yelling and screaming about being her being a disappointment, being embarrassed to be associated with her, for the company he would inherit to sponsor her, and how she was so fucking stupid to mess everything up in public, on television, how terrible it looked for his father's company, and how she was lucky to have him, since no one else would want her now. She remembered his hands, sharp fingernails digging into her wrists hard enough to leave red indentations and draw blood in one area, and remembered him furiously pushing, almost throwing, her away from him, tripping over the small kitten heels on her shoes and slamming into one of the posts of the large canopy bed in her guest room.

Sansa hit the bedpost full on in the face, smacking the side of her head. She clung to it, as if a fast wind was trying to blow her away, and looked down at the ground, hoping her love wouldn't want eye contact. She would not cry, not now, not just yet with him looming over her. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing that he'd had any effect on her.

And then, as if nothing had happened he spoke again. "Mother is expecting us both for dinner in the main dining hall in a half hour. I trust you'll be there and that you'll be looking presentable. I like you better when you're pretty."

"Yes... of course, love, I'll be ready. Just give me a few minutes," she said, watching him walk away out of the corner of her eye, smoothing down his now slightly wrinkled button down shirt. Once she was fully convinced he was out of earshot, Sansa slumped down on the ground next to the bed and finally she let her tears come forth. _Now is the time to get this all out_ , she thought, _I've only got a half hour before I have to parade around in front of his family as if everything is just fine_. She felt different this time though. She was rather used to the verbal abuse by now, and sure, she'd spent plenty of time crying in this same spot on the floor of the guest room at Storm's End, or the one in their home in Kings Landing, but this was different. He'd come close to hitting her a couple of times before, but he'd always stop himself, probably wise to the fact that he couldn't leave any marks. _I'm surprised I still have tears left at this point_ , Sansa thought as she got up and started to make her way to the attached bathroom.

"I'm just so tired of all of it," she said out loud to herself.

"Then why are you still here, Little Bird?" Sansa gasped and spun around on her heels to bring her face-to-face with him. Sandor Clegane, the Hound, Joffrey's driver and sometimes bodyguard for large events when his parents decided it was necessary. _He must not be working today,_ she thought, as the looked over his outfit – dark black denim jeans, a faded grey t-shirt with the logo of some band she'd never heard of, and his black leather jacket and combat boots, both that looked like they'd been to each of the seven hells and back and managed to live to tell about it.

She had known him since she began dating Joffrey and despite being terrifically scared of him at first, the more time she spent with him the more she realized that he wasn't as ferocious inside as he was outside. They realized that Joffrey considered each of them his pet in different ways and that his dismissive behavior of both of them often left them in each other's company. Many times early in the morning or late at night they'd find themselves in the breakfast nook of the Red Keep or Storm's End, neither being able to sleep well, and Joffrey's mother had always insisted that Sandor drive her wherever she wanted to go when Joff wasn't around. After four years' worth of interactions, he was the only person in service to the Baratheon family she knew she could trust. She watched her tongue around everyone else, even slightly with Joffrey's Uncle Tyrion, but with Sandor she'd learned years ago to speak freely or it would only anger him. Sure, he still towered more than half a foot over her, a feat which not many could do, not even Joffrey, which she silently suspected bothered him quite a bit. The burns that covered the left side of his face and head no longer bothered her much either and whenever Sansa was close enough to get a proper look at him she couldn't help but notice his eyes. Dark grey, like steel, she figured they had gotten so dark by being filled with everything he'd had to endure. He seemed to know everything, to notice everything, but the one thing Sansa always noticed was how his eyes followed hers. How right now, so close to her, that she could see the way they dilated, just slightly, when she caught his gaze and sent it straight back at him.

"It isn't that simple," she replied, still looking straight at him. "I can't just leave. I know he gets like this, all angry and loud, I've seen his father do the exact same thing dozens of times to Cersei." She quickly walked over to grab a hand towel from the bathroom, trying to dry her eyes and brush off the trails her tears left on her cheeks. She started to look through her clothes in her suitcase that she'd set on the end of the bed, she hadn't even had time to unpack. She would have to find an outfit suitable for dinner, stunning enough to take his mind off what had happened. "He always apologizes, Sandor, really he does. 'It won't happen again, Sansa, I was out of line. Please forgive me, Sansa, I do love you.'" Sansa says, an almost perfect imitation of Joffrey's posh southron accent.

"And then what happens, Little Bird?" Sandor asked. "He always hurts you again. I've seen it. Aye, your scars might not be as visible as mine, but they're there," he paused for a moment and followed her over to where she stood facing away from him going through her clothes, and suddenly felt the warmth of one of his large hands on her shoulder, turning her back towards him. "...and they're just as painful."

"And what would you have me do? Do you wish me to say it, Sandor?" She asked, pulling herself away from his gaze and the heat radiating from his hand, and grabbed a powder blue dress from the suitcase, holding it up in front of her. "Then yes, yes I know it will happen again, as it always does. I'm not stupid like he says I am, I just don't see any way out of it. It happens again and again but yet when he asks for forgiveness I think I truly love him again."

"You love him, girl? Too bad then that it's not the same for him." He said angrily, raising his voice for the first time since they started. "Not five minutes after you leave for Winterfell he'll be back on one of their jets to Highgarden. You should know you're not the only one he plays with."

Sansa stared, incredulously, at the words she'd just heard. Highgarden... that would mean...

"…Margaery? Margaery Tyrell?" Sansa spat her name out at Sandor as if it tasted bad. "Surely, you don't mean he's been..."

Sandor was silent, but the look he gave back to her told Sansa that she knew he was right. He had no reason to lie to her, in fact, he had been one of the only people she knew that had always given her the truth of the matter, even if he knew she wouldn't like the message.

A few moments passed, Sandor looking awkwardly at her as she threw the dress carelessly onto the back of the chair at her dressing table, and sat down, hands in her lap, staring intently at her feet. Both were silent, and then Sandor turned to walk back out to the hallway.

"...wait," She said softly, just as he'd reached the door. Her voice was so quiet, and not sure if he'd heard her she quickly ran over and positioned herself between him and the doorway. Sandor gave her a puzzled look as she grabbed the door handle and closed the door as quickly and quietly as possible.

"I'll leave," Sansa finally said, exhaling audibly. "I meant what I said, I am tired of this. I'm tired of being yelled at and I'm tired of feeling like I need to watch myseIf around him otherwise he'll hit me, or, I don't know, throw me into the bedpost like today. And I guess you telling me what goes on behind my back is the final straw, really." Sliding out from between Sandor and her door, she walked back over her dressing table where she'd thrown her dress. Time was running out for her to get ready for dinner, so she left him standing behind her as she quickly pulled her thin sweater over her head, but instead of reaching for the dress she'd previously laid out, grabbed a plain white t-shirt from her suitcase.

When she caught Sandor's eyes in the mirror, he finally broke his silence. "Little Bird, I can leave. They'll have my fucking head if they catch me in here with you changing," he began. "I hope you weren't just chirping for me though, if you mean to leave then do it soon."

She could feel him looking at her, and then when she saw the reflection of him in the mirror, she pulled the t-shirt over her head and grabbed a light pink and grey hooded sweatshirt from her luggage before shoving the dress back in and zipping it closed. There had been so many opportunities in Sansa's life for her to get out of this situation, to be bold, to get what she felt she deserved. Her parents were no longer crazy about Joffrey, and her siblings never were. She saw how he treated their household staff, the drivers, even Sandor took in Joffrey's verbal abuse… and of course, herself. She somehow believed he loved her, that he'd stop... but learning about Margaery had made it all so much worse in her mind.

Feeling no time like the present to be bold, and no one better to try it out in front of, she turned around again to face Sandor.

"I'm not just being polite this time. This bag right here, it's packed and I'm marching right downstairs to the dining room, where I'll break up with Joffrey and tell them all that I'm going home," she said, hands on her hips, allowing herself to show a very smug smile on her face.

"That's good, LB, but I -"

Sandor looked down at Sansa in complete shock when she cut him off. "And you're coming with me," she started, moving a step closer to him with each word. "And don't give me that look as if you aren't coming, or as if you can't leave. I know you don't have much to leave behind. I know how Joffrey treats you and I know that even with as much as they probably pay you, that you're still tired of it. Take me back to Winterfell, Sandor, please."

_That was the end of it_ , Sansa thought, finally turning off the now cold shower. Sandor had grumbled something about how "the Little Bird better know damn well what she's doing", but he went to his room in the Storms' End house and quickly got his backpack all the same while Sansa made sure she hadn't forgotten any of her things she'd kept in "her" guest room from previous visits. She knew that back in Kings Landing Sandor lived in one of the Baratheon work apartments in the Red Keep compound, so he was able to pick up and go on a whim if he so chose, the rent came out of this paycheck anyways. She remembered walking downstairs to see everyone, Joffrey, his parents Cersei and Robert, as well as his two younger siblings Myrcella and Tommen, all sitting at the dinner table, an empty spot waiting for her next to Joffrey. They stared at her as she held her luggage in hand, a light sky blue hard suitcase with large white polka dots, quickly stammered something about not being able to be in this relationship with Joffrey anymore and leaving right away for Winterfell, and that Sandor was going to take her to the airport so as not to disturb their dinner any more than she already had. She didn't bother to tell them that not only was he taking her, but that he was not coming back. They'd figure that part out soon enough.

Ever since then, things had been different. They weren't able to get a flight up north at such short notice and so on Sandor's suggestion they ended up taking the train, which unfortunately took two whole days to reach Winterfell since it stopped at every tiny little town along the way. Her family welcomed her back, Sandor tendered his resignation as the Baratheon's lackey and started up working at Winterfell.

Sansa finished drying off, ate the breakfast Jeyne had left for her, and changed into her one-piece ski suit, pulled her short snow pants over top, and grabbed her CamelBak backpack before heading out the door.

_It seems so long ago_ , she thought as she left her apartment and headed towards the locker in the village where she kept her skis and boots. Such an easy thing to do that she almost felt stupid for letting it drag on with Joffrey as well as letting herself get so overwhelmed. That was one of the reasons why she knew it was right to start over, both for herself and for Sandor. Every time she looked at him it was plain to see how burnt out, how over everything he was. Now though, closing in on three years afterwards, she remembers how uncertain the first couple of days were.

She'd called her family once they were on the train, both to let them know she had broken up with Joffrey and that she would need to get picked up from the train station outside of Wintertown. Two days later when they arrived, she realized when she first saw her mother attempting not to stare at Sandor accompanying her that she had completely forgotten to let them know that she was not alone.

Luckily, her father was not as obvious with his surprise. "Mr. Clegane, correct? I think I remember you from the past few times the Baratheons visited." He said politely as he offered a handshake. Sandor nodded. "Thank you so much for keeping my daughter company. It's quite a long trip by train and I was a bit worried about her being alone. Will you be staying long before you head back to Kings' Landing?"

Rather sheepishly, Sandor looked between her and Ned Stark. "Well, you see, I'm actua-"

"Daddy, Sandor's staying in Winterfell… and not temporarily. Let's get back to the house, we'll explain everything," Sansa said, linking her arm through her father's. "Besides," she continued, shooting Sandor a big smile over her shoulder, "I'm sure we'd both love to eat some food that was purchased from a cart, right?" Sandor picked up her suitcase like it weighed nothing and the four of them piled into the Stark's large white Escalade.

About twenty minutes later, they found themselves sitting around the dining room table, with Sansa explaining to her parents what had happened. She left out some parts, mostly about being practically flung across the room, but surprising even herself she didn't leave out anything about his remarks or what Sandor had said about Margaery.

Catelyn kept her hand on top of her daughter's throughout the story and let her finish before asking the obvious.

"I'm certain I speak for your father as well when I say how proud I am of you for getting yourself out of that situation. We've both seen how Robert treats Cersei sometimes so I am honestly not surprised that Joffrey acts the same way. Now that you're back here though, what's next? You're so talented, Sansa, you really are. You can't let one mistake and one lost competition stop you."

"I've had a lot of time to think about that during the train ride back," she started, getting up to refill her cup of tea with more hot water and walking over with a cup for Catelyn. "There's no way I could give up competing, it's truly something I feel that I'm made for. But there was too much standing in the way before… Joffrey, singing, cheerleading… on top of everything else I had going on with ski practice and school. I think losing that competition finally showed me how much stress I was under so I'm going to start over. I've gotten rid of Joffrey, and when school starts back in January I plan on leaving the choir and cheerleading. I want to focus on my skiing and on finishing the rest of my senior year strongly."

"I'm glad you're so sure of things, Princess," Ned said. "You'll bounce back quickly, I know it. Us Starks are hard to keep down. And we're all here for you. Your mother and I, all your brothers and sisters, even Arya," he finished with a smirk.

Finally, as if everyone had forgotten the large man also sitting at their dining room table, Sandor chimed in. "You've got me too, LB. I know you won't need protecting like you did in Kings Landing, and certainly not a chauffeur, but hell, I'm sure I can find some way to be useful around here."

_He certainly did end up being useful_ , Sansa thought smiling to herself as she arrived at the door to the employee locker rooms and storage. _Sandor has actually managed to fit in at Winterfell and in the past three years he'd even stopped complaining about the snow and cold for the most part_. Sandor had stayed for the first couple weeks in the Stark's guest room before finding an apartment in Wintertown, not far from where Jon lived now. One morning before he moved out, Jeyne Westerling had announced at brunch that her human resources group was on the lookout for a new personal trainer and fitness instructor since their most senior instructor had just given her two weeks' notice the day before. As if it was nothing, Sandor said he could do the job. He said he had spent four years at University of Westeros at Kings Landing studying kinesiology and still had his Westeros College of Sports Medicine personal training certification.

_Gods, I can even remember the incredulous look I gave him. It really shouldn't have surprised me that much, even just looking at his build you could tell he knew what he was doing_. He noticed the astonished look on her face and said something about having a life before becoming the Lannister's pet. In the end, she was glad about that he'd had that "life before the Lannisters" as he put it. For the past three years, Sansa had been meeting with Sandor for cross-training sessions four days per week, three hours each time.

Today was one of those four days, along with Monday morning, Tuesday afternoons, and Saturday mornings. Her university classes were Monday and Wednesday afternoons and Tuesday and Thursday evenings, which left good chunks of her days and almost all weekend free for ski practice, either by herself or with her coach. When Sansa arrived at the locker rooms and storage area, there was a note for her that said the rest of the girls had already brought all the slalom gates and drills up to the run. Sansa quickly changed boots and met up with the rest of her group. Each day they practiced was pretty much the same, doing laps on the various race course runs or working individually with her coach on perfecting her technique, carving and leaning just that little bit more. She enjoyed it, but today was spent doing laps on set women's downhill run, and so after four hours of monotonous practice, Sansa was ultimately grateful when today's practice was over. _I know why they also choose that run, it's the closest to a real competition run in the Vale_ , Sansa thought. _But honestly, I could probably make my way down backwards and blindfolded._

After her last run, she made her way back to the locker room and changed out of her ski suit and into her workout clothes to meet up with Sandor. She had about an hour until their session started, so she took her time changing and putting all her things away neatly into her backpack. It crossed her mind to grab a quick shower, but instead she pulled on some baggy sweatpants to ward off some of the cold and headed off to grab a quick to-go sandwich from nearby cafe. _It's not like Sandor will notice if I'm sweaty, and I'll just get sweaty again five minutes into the workout anyways_ , Sansa thought. _Besides, the last thing I want is to pass out halfway through a set of burpees because I haven't eaten in six hours._

_He might notice though_. Part of her always noticed little things about him. She could tell right away that he always took the time to clean up a bit at his apartment if he knew she was stopping by, mostly since she showed up once unannounced. She could tell when he'd come over to her parents' house for brunch some Sundays that he actually took the time to dry his hair and maybe wear something else besides a t-shirt. And, most of all, even though he was none the wiser, she could tell how his eyes followed her around a crowded room, how he watched over her. She knew she helped give him the courage to get out of the lion's den, but she wasn't sure if he knew how grateful she was that he was there with her, that the only person that was there for her for so many years of her life was still here with her.

_And he won't know. Not today. Today I'll eat this mediocre turkey breast, spinach, and avocado sandwich, fill up my water bottle, and trudge over to the recreation center and go to work on my legs and core. We'll speak nothing of whatever feelings might be there between us, and we'll ignore any awkward moments we have, like when he's moving me into place for some new exercise he's created or we catch each other's gaze in the large mirrors and then look away, as if we weren't trying to sneakily ogle the other person._

Just under an hour later, Sansa stepped into the weight training room and Sandor was already there, walking around the room and cleaning up anything that was still out of place from the last session. He was always very particular about everything being in order, especially the free weights. She didn't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times she'd listened to him complain angrily about how someone put them back out of order. He didn't notice her when she came in, and she didn't say anything, just sat down on one of the weight benches and took off her jacket and sweatpants. She watched him closely. He looked the same as always, black basketball shorts with red piping down each side, gray tank top with the Winterfell logo on the back, long black hair pulled up and away from his face in a ponytail - the only time you'd ever see it like that. He bent over and picked up the eighty pound barbell like it was nothing and put it back in its spot, arm and back muscles rippling as they contracted and relaxed, Sansa mentally both cursed and thanked the gods and the HR department for creating that tank top.

"You know it's very rude to stare, Little Bird," Sandor finally said, clearing his throat and jolting her out of her gaze. "I thought your mother had taught you better manners than that."

"I was not staring, Sandor," she said as she got off the bench and put her things into a cubby. "I guess I'm just a bit tired from slalom practice this morning. I must have spaced out a bit." _Yes, spacing out, that's what you were doing, Sansa_ , she told herself. _You definitely were not staring in awe at the perfect example of the human form standing in front of you._

"You better not be too tired. You yawn and I'll only make it more difficult, you know that." He warned.

"No, no I'll be fine. But hey, there was one thing that I'd wanted to talk to you about…" she started. Her half-brother Jon and his girlfriend Ygritte were throwing a party tomorrow night at their apartment in Wintertown. Everyone in their group would be there and she knew she'd need to explicitly invite Sandor if she wanted him to show up.

"Training first. We can talk afterwards," Sandor replied and grabbed his clipboard off the top of the cubbies. "Let's get to work."

Sansa followed him over to the squat rack and they started their work out. It was three hours of squats, leg press, lots of walking lunges, and every variation of plank that Sandor's brain could think up… and more. There were plyo box jumps, crunches, and lots of mountain climbers, treadmill sprints, and burpees for quick cardio intervals. She couldn't believe that before she started working out with Sandor she didn't cross-train almost at all, save for maybe some quick sessions on the elliptical with a copy of a gossip or fashion magazine. There was such an improvement in her speed and overall ability, not to mention that she almost never felt as fatigued as she used to after a particularly hard day of training. She'd hadn't been anywhere near overweight before, not in the least, but overall working with Sandor made her feel so stronger, which she really noticed when they'd all helped Jeyne and her move into their apartment.

After what seemed like forever, Sansa finally noticed the clock hit three forty-five. The last fifteen minutes were for stretching, which was her favorite time since it gave her a chance to talk to Sandor. The rest of her session normally the only conversation they had were questions regarding form or sore muscles, nothing remotely personal. They walked to the corner of the weight room, rolled out two yoga mats on the hard floor, and started their normal stretches.

About halfway through, she decided to break the silence.

"So, about what I was going to say earlier… I'm not sure if you've heard yet or not…." She started, her voice trailing off, eyes dead set on the legs outstretched in front of her. The last part of the sentence was half mumble, half whisper. She finally turned and looked straight at him, waiting for his answer and got nothing.

"Dammit, Sansa, speak up a bit," Sandor said, sounding annoyed. "You've got no problem yelling at that punching bag over there when we box but when did it start that you can't ask me something?"

"Alright, alright," she said, switching over to her other leg. _I hate when he gets like this_ , she thought. _Some days he's perfectly fine and other days he's like a moody teenager._ "I just wanted to say that Jon's having a party tomorrow for the start of the season. He asked me to tell you since you he said he hasn't ran into you in a while. I figured you probably wouldn't want to come since you don't hang out with our group too often, but you're more than welcome."

"Gods, you too, Sansa?" He asked.

"What? Me too? What's that supposed to mean?"

Sandor breathed out a loud exasperated-sounding sigh and held out his hand to help her off the ground. "You're the fourth person to invite me to Jon's bloody party in the past two days," he said, rolling his yoga mat back up. "I've gotten texts from Ygritte and from Osha the other day, and last night Theon called me, drunk as all hell, to tell me that I needed to go to Jon's tomorrow."

"Who knew Sandor Clegane would come to Winterfell and be oh-so-popular," Sansa smirked at him jokingly as she put her yoga mat up on the shelf. "I guess that means you'll have to show up, if so many people want you there."

They had walked back over to the cubbies and Sansa began to gather her things. "I don't know, Little Bird, I'm sure I can think of other things to do with my Friday," he started. "I wouldn't want people to think I just did whatever people expected of me."

She could tell he was joking, trying to confuse her with his sarcasm and his comment about doing what was expected - she knew he was referring to her. When they'd first met she had a terrible time figuring out when he was joking or serious, his expression didn't change very often and he had an excellent poker face. _Actually, I had the same problem with Arya and Joffrey's Uncle Tyrion,_ she thought _. I could never pick out their sarcastic comments from their serious ones. That was seven years ago though, and now I'm well versed in his language._

"Please?" she said, jacket in one hand, sweats in the other, looking up at him and knowing full well that when she gave him those wide, sad eyes what would happen. _He might have his sarcasm, but I have longing stares and puppy dog eyes._

"Fine, girl, I'll go to your brother's party." He rasped.

"Yes! Thank you!" Sansa exclaimed, then jumped up and threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a hug. They didn't stay that way for long. She'd felt him tense up at first, clearly not expecting it, then finally when he relaxed slightly and she felt one of his large hands on the small of her back she pulled away, not wanting to ruin it by letting it move into that awkward zone they found themselves in so often. "I'll see you then," she said, before turning and heading quickly to the showers to get ready for class and then dinner with Jeyne and Hot Pie.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

**GENDRY WATERS**

**THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17**

6:30am managed to roll around much sooner than what Gendry had expected. After lying in bed in the dark for a few minutes after his alarm went off, he told himself that there was no hitting snooze today and he actually needed to wake up and start getting ready. The last job he'd had before moving up to Winterfell was waiting tables and he had mostly worked lunch and dinner shifts, so he was not yet back into the swing of an early morning schedule. _Tomorrow will be worse_ , he thought. _I've got to be ready for work in rentals at 7:30 which means I'll need to get up even earlier than today_. Instead of continuing to think about that, he got up and walked out into the kitchen, surprised to see the lights already on and Hot Pie elbows deep in pots and pans making breakfast.

"What's all this for, Hot Pie?" Gendry said, as he opened the fridge and pulled out a large glass container of orange juice. He sat down in one of the stools along the bar counter and grabbed a glass from the ones drying in the dish rack. "I thought you didn't start work until nine normally."

"There's a company from Wintertown that rented out some office space for a big business meeting this morning and they're getting served breakfast so I've got to go in early for the prep work. I figured since it's your first day at work and I had to get up earlier anyways that I might as well make a good breakfast."

"If you don't stop all this I might start to expect it every morning. I'm usually a cereal and toast guy but I can get used to waffles and..." Gendry stopped and leaned forward as he saw Hot Pie crack open the oven door and peak inside. "Seven hells, is that a quiche?"

Hot Pie quickly closed the oven door and starting punching numbers into the timer on the top of the stove, before starting to clean up the kitchen counters. "Yes, it's a quiche!" he said, sounding a bit annoyed as he wiped up the very small mess he'd made. "It's got to go in the oven still though for about 25 more minutes, but if you keep making fun of me then I'll call Jeyne over for breakfast and it'll be your favorite cereal and toast for you from now until April."

"Hey, no need for that. I won't argue with you there, I was just a little surprised that's all. I don't think I've ever had someone make a quiche for me," he said, then downed his orange juice as he stood up and pushed the bar stool back under the counter. "I'm gonna jump in the shower and hopefully that'll be ready by the time I'm out."

After his shower, Gendry found himself standing in front of his closet and staring. _I've got it easy tomorrow with the rentals job since there's a uniform_ , he thought, _but this internship... this is a real job. I can't just show up looking like some bum. I need to have them take me somewhat seriously._ After much more deliberation than was probably necessary, since he didn't exactly have a ton of clothes to begin with, he put on a nicer pair of jeans, actually the nicest pants he owned that weren't in the dress pants category, with a light grey button down shirt and a black v-neck sweater over the top. By the time he came back out to the kitchen, Hot Pie had the quiche out of the oven and had served up two portions for himself and Gendry.

"Are you ready for the start of your big internship?" Hot Pie asked between bites. When Gendry thought about it, he was terribly thankful to have Hot Pie as a roommate. Once he was eighteen and able to get out of the foster system he had always rented a studio apartment or room by himself, always thought that it was more trouble than it was worth to try to find a roommate. Since he was from Kings Landing and lived so close to campus he was able to waive the student housing requirement for freshman so he'd never even had to share a room in the dorms. _Hot Pie will be an awesome chef or restaurateur when he's finished_ , Gendry thought. _He's not short on the culinary skills and he's sure as hell been able to make me feel welcome when I invaded his living space, I'm certain he can make diners feel welcome for two hours at a time._

"I hope so. You don't happen to know anyone that works there do you? Everywhere we go you seem to know just about the whole resort." It was true. At the Stark Family Greeting it seemed like everyone who saw Hot Pie stopped to shake hands or stop by his group, and each time they had walked anywhere around the resort people would nod or wave happily.

"Well, let me think. I've met a couple of the designers and most of the upper management. They entertain pretty often at the restaurant on Castle Black Peak and at Dracarys, especially when the big shot Baratheons like Robert or Renly are in town from Kings Landing. Robert's got an eye for expensive food, Renly's just got an eye for anything expensive," Hot Pie answered.

"No one you think I would know?"

"You're the first of their interns I've met. Most don't actually accept the resort jobs that are available… not that there's anything wrong with that," Hot Pie offered cautiously, seeing the curious look Gendry shot him, trying not to shove his foot too far into his mouth. "I just meant that I'm not too sure of who you'll interact with. Maybe Mya Stone? She's been there for a few years now, not too much older than us. Every once in a while she'll hang out with Jon and Ygritte… and I definitely wouldn't mention it to her but there are some rumors that she's actually Robert Baratheon's daughter, from when he came up to Winterfell way back when to start Baratheon Snow."

"Alright then, I guess I'll just have to find out once I get there. Upper management and gossip about the president's potential out-of-wedlock daughter were not what I had expected for my internship," Gendry said, hoping to make some sort of joke out of it.

After they finished with breakfast and Hot Pie had cleaned up the kitchen to his liking, Gendry packed up laptop into his backpack and the two of them headed off towards the main village. It must have been less cold out that morning, since even though it was only 7:30am when they left and the sun was still trying to rise up from behind the horizon Gendry didn't feel as cold as he had on the rest of the days. Once they got to the village, Hot Pie made his way to the restaurant and Gendry continued on to the Baratheon offices, rather conveniently located in the same office as the resort headquarters and HR offices that he had visited yesterday.

Inside the main lobby, Gendry was greeted with a soft yet cheery "Good morning" from a young girl behind the dark cherry receptionist counter. The little plaque on the counter and her name tag both agreed that she was Beth Cassel, Wintertown, Westeros, Receptionist.

"Can I help with anything? You look a bit lost."

"The Baratheon Snow offices are in this building, right? I've only been in here once yesterday for the Winterfell employee meetings and there were signs out everywhere for those."

"Oh, yes, you're in the right place," she said, standing up and coming around the counter to where he stood. She looked petite next to him, a little less than a foot shorter, and still looked like she had a little bit of baby fat left to lose. She had on her Winterfell polo, which looked slightly too big, and the way her hair was back in two twin braids didn't help her either. He knew they had high school students hired for some jobs, but probably not for a receptionist who was already at work at 7:45 in the morning.

"Here, follow me," she said, motioning for him to come with her. "The main elevators are just around the corner. You can take the elevator up to the fourth floor for the Baratheon offices. It's labeled on the inside too. You'll have to ring the bell once you're up there if you don't have your key card yet, but I can call up and tell them you're here. What was your name again?" she asked, pressing the up button and then holding the door open.

"Gendry Waters. I'm one of the new interns," he answered, stepping into the elevator.

"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Waters. I'll tell them you're here."

When the elevator stopped at the fourth floor and the doors opened, Gendry found himself walking out into a crisp, clean waiting room. There were bright white walls to each side lined by white leather couches with steel end tables next to each. Directly in front of him was the entrance to the office, a full wall of clear glass with the Baratheon logo reaching wall to wall. He had to squint to make out the double doors, it was so seamless. He took a few more seconds to look around for the bell that Beth had mentioned and then decided to wait in the room here was in since she'd said downstairs that someone would meet him there. Before he got a chance to sit down, he saw a figure moving on the other side of the glass doors, which soon opened and he was greeted by a girl who looked a bit younger than him. When she got to where he was standing, he noticed she was on the tall side, not as tall as Sansa, but still above average. She was slim, but it was easy to tell through the clothes she had on – a long sleeve forest green button down shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows but the bottom untucked, dark brown corduroy vest, and form-fitting khaki colored pants tucked into knee-high brown leather boots. Her wavy dark brown hair was back into a ponytail and then pulled over her right shoulder.

"Are you Gendry Waters?" she asked, looking down at the clipboard she was holding and then back up at him.

"Yes, that's me. I'm here for the internship."

"Of course. I just got the phone call from Beth in the lobby. I'm Lyanna Mormont, office manager for Baratheon Snow. We've been waiting for you," she said, but then saw the worried look on his face. "No, no, don't worry. I didn't mean it like that. You're not late at all. Come on, let's get inside."

He watched her punch in a code on a keypad illuminated on the glass door, which clicked to unlock the doors, and then they continued into the offices.

"So," Gendry started, determined to make some sort of conversation instead of follow her silently until they go to wherever she was leading him, "How long have you been here for? Don't take this the wrong way, but you look pretty young."

"Yea, I know, I get that all the time. I'm a business major at the UW Winterfell campus and this is my fourth year working at Baratheon. I just started as office manager though." she explained, pushing another set of glass doors open to go farther back into the offices. "I'm originally from Bear Island, but since the population is so small nowadays the schools aren't that great. My mother's been gone for a while but once I got old enough my older sister who was taking care of all of us sent me to high school in Wintertown, so here I am."

"I'm sorry about your mom. I lost my own mom when I was ten," Gendry said, wanting to sympathize but not knowing how far into this conversation he wanted to go with someone he just met.

"I was nine, but luckily enough my oldest sister Dacey was great at taking care of the rest of my three older sisters and me. After I started high school here I had an assignment for a business class sophomore year where I had to shadow a manager in a company. I got assigned to Baratheon Snow and I've been here in some capacity or another ever since."

They walked the rest of the way in silence until they rounded a corner and came to a conference room. It was surrounded on three sides by glass walls, with a large black and steel conference table flanked with very modern looking rolling chairs complete with the same style white leather padding as the couches in the waiting area. There were two other men already seated at the table, their backs to where Gendry and Lyanna stood at the doorway.

"Well, this is where I will leave you. If there is anything you need, office supplies, extra computer cords, anything at all, just let me know." With that, Lyanna turned and started back down the hallway, presumably to her office.

Gendry pushed open the glass door and took a seat the conference table opposite the other two. Each spot at the table was equipped with two electrical outlets that flipped out of the surface of the table as well as two USB charging ports. On the one wall that was not glass there was a large projector pull down screen, flanked by two very large potted plants.

The three of them sat awkwardly for a few moments while Gendry sat his backpack in the chair next to him and fished out his laptop. The other two both had theirs sitting out so he figured he would follow suit.

After a second, the blonde man sitting straight across from him rose from his seat and held out his hand to Gendry. "Harry Hardyng," he said, introducing himself.

"Gendry Waters," he replied, returning Harry's firm handshake and trying to get an idea of his competition. Hardyng sat back down in his seat straight-backed with an air of confidence surrounding him.

"Waters...," he repeated, "that's a southron name, isn't it?"

_So this is the game we play_ , Gendry thought.

"It is. Lived in the capital my whole life. Just graduated from Kings Landing this past summer semester," he said, watching him for any reactions. "But you're not from the north either with that last name. With that hair that color I would've pegged you for a Lannister."

Harry laughed stiffly and ran his hand through his bright blonde hair. The blonde hair, light blue eyes, and clean-shaven face made him look like he was a doll for young girls, or one of those models they put as the example photos in picture frames. "Not Lannister, no, thank the gods. Exact opposite side of Westeros. My family's been in the Vale since anyone can remember."

Gendry did not need to be told that. He had immediately recognized the Hardyng last name. He was thinking it was somewhat odd that Harry needed to work in an internship like this. Surely there were Baratheon offices in the Vale, Gulltown maybe, that his father could just donate a wad of money to and they'd be beside themselves to offer him a job.

Before Gendry had the chance to think of a reply, Harry turned to the other young man in the room. He'd been sitting silently, looking cautiously at the both of them, but mostly he looked at his hands. Sensing that he was not going to be quite as outgoing as himself or Gendry, Harry quietly asked the boy where he was from.

He looked up with a start, stammered a bit, but Lyanna returned to the conference room before he had a chance to answer, this time she had the final two interns trailing behind her. They both took their spots at the table with Gendry, Harry, and the quiet boy. As she opened the door to leave, another young woman walked through the door holding stacks of papers and portfolios, which she dumped rather unceremoniously on the table.

"Oh, Mya, good morning!" Lyanna said cheerfully. "I wasn't sure if you were here yet this morning, so I brought all the new interns here to wait. They're all here now, but if you need me for anything you know where I'll be."

"Thank you, Lyanna," she said. "I might need you later in the afternoon for a while, but nothing's for sure yet."

_This must be the one that Hot Pie mentioned this morning, Mya Stone_. She was as tall as Sansa was, but more broad in the shoulders, somewhat muscular. Her jet-black hair was cut short and fell across the top of her head messily to one side, almost hiding stormy blue eyes that Gendry recognized as similar to his own. Her style was overall very masculine, wide leg trousers, a simple white button dress shirt, and thin suspenders which were probably just for show, but it somehow left no doubt in his mind that despite looking so simple, her entire look took forever for her to perfect.

"Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the first day of your internship with Baratheon Snow's design team. These next four months will prove to be a valuable, if not whirlwind experience for all of you, so I would like to begin with introductions," she explained. "My name is Mya Stone, and you may all call me Mya. I am originally from the Vale of Arryn, I graduated from Gulltown Arts College with degree in graphic design, concentrating on advertisement and copywriting. Since then I have spent six years at Baratheon working on design for the website as well as print and catalog." She paused for a moment and looked around the table. "We've got the rest of the day pretty much planned out, so I guess now is as good a time as any for introductions amongst yourselves. Why don't we start with you and work our way to the right?" she said, looking down as Gendry as she took her seat at the head of the table. "Just name, maybe how old you are, where you're from and where you go to school. You'll have plenty of time to get to know each other more later if you like."

They went around the table, with Gendry introducing himself, then Devan, Missandei, Podrick, and lastly Harry. Devan Seaworth was 21, originally from the Stormlands but his father was a navy captain so they moved around all throughout his childhood. He'd practically attended school in almost every port city along on either side of the Narrow Sea from the way it sounded, Braavos, Myr, Sunspear. A junior at Dragonstone Creative Arts College, he was a bit shorter than Gendry, on the lean side of muscular, with slight beard and shoulder length light brown hair pulled back at the nape of his neck with a leather cord. He seemed friendly enough but was curt yet still polite in his short-winded introduction, which Gendry assumed was a by-product of his military upbringing.

The only girl of the group was also the youngest and the only one from outside of Westeros. Missandei was only 20 years old, originally from the island of Naath in Sothoryos, and like many from that region, she did not have a last name. While most everyone that Gendry had met in Winterfell suffered from a severe lack of sun it seemed, Missandei had the golden copper colored skin and shiny straight black hair that was commonplace in Sothoryos. Her hair cut short in the back, like a men's hairstyle, and angled down to past her shoulders in front. Under a bright white puffy jacket with a fur-lined hood, she wore a burnt orange thick-knit sweater dress with leggings and snow boots. She explained that after being born in Naath, her family moved to Astapor when her three older brothers joined the army, and once she was old enough she had traveled by herself throughout many of the close-by cities, Meereen, Yunkai, and then spent high school in Pentos at an international academy studying language. It was her original plan to apply for the foreign service and work as an interpreter but after one art class her senior year of high school she learned that she had a natural talent for digital media, and the rest was history. She enrolled at the Free Cities Arts & Trade School in Braavos and applied for this internship in her second year.

The quiet young man whom Mya saved from giving an introduction minutes earlier now introduced himself as Podrick Payne. He spoke quietly, somewhat unsure of himself, and let everyone know they could call him Pod for short. He almost looked what realistic parents would want for their son. While idealistic parents would strive for a son like Harry, the ones who knew it was impossible would strive for someone like Pod. Average height, average looks, respectful. Mousey brown hair cut in a style like an early Beatles album, brown eyes, blue and grey striped polo shirt, khakis, recently shined dress shoes, the kind of person that you'd forget you ever saw if you passed by him on a busy street. He made up for it in sheer likeability, just by listening to him talk Gendry had a feeling that he would be a good person to get to know. Like Devan, he was also 21 and a junior – he spent his whole life up until he was eighteen living in Kings Landing and had applied for University of Westeros there, but on his acceptance his family had urged him to relocate back to their ancestral home in the Westerlands, so there he went and was able to transfer his admittance to the campus at Casterly Rock.

If there could've been an exact opposite of Podrick Payne, then that person would be Harry Hardyng. He was from the same province as Mya and made sure to get all he could milk out of it since they happened to both attend Gulltown Arts College. He had just recently turned the same age as Gendry, 22, and was on track to graduate this coming spring. Halfway through his introduction, Gendry instantly recognized why exactly he knew the Hardyng name. Sure, anyone that had listened in their middle school Westerosi history class knew the name, but at that moment listening to the steady and calm cadence of his voice during an introduction which seemed almost practiced he remembered. He was the son of another Harry Hardyng, that one being the current governor of the province of the Vale. He'd won last year in a highly contested, very dirty race for office against the previous incumbent Jon Arryn, also a strong and well-known name in the Vale for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Once everyone had introduced themselves, Mya started on her explanation of the internship.

"Each year, our board of directors, along with myself and a number of department heads wade through hundreds of internship applications from all across the world, from Lannisport, to Asshai, to the Summer Isles and back again. This year, you five have been chosen for this exclusive internship, based on the portfolios, essays, and recommendations we received.

"Throughout your four months at Baratheon, from today until March 20th, each of you will work on a portfolio of designs for skis and snowboards along with the normal work that you will perform. Our design group is split into five departments and you will rotate through each department individually, spending three weeks with each. We purposely divide the interns because while we of course encourage and expect you to spend time bouncing ideas off each other, we want to see what you can do on your own. For the next four months, you will spend time in the following departments: skis and snowboards, web design, merchandise, all of which pretty self-explanatory. The fourth department is advertising, which handles our catalogs, signage, and posters for ski and board shops, or traditional print ads that you would find in magazines. Lastly, you probably do not know, but Baratheon has partnered with Winterfell resort for all of their advertising, as well as many businesses in Wintertown and other cities in the North. This will be your fifth department.

"Aside from the regular department training, each year we hold a competition that pits our interns against each other to create new ski and snowboard designs, as this is truly the core of our business. There is a theme to work with each year and at the end, the rest of the employees and management team will decide the winning intern in each category, which are split up by types of skis and types of snowboards, and their designs will make it into the next year's line-up. You are expected to submit entries for each category. Contrary to popular belief, the winner will not automatically be offered a job, it is not uncommon but do not expect it. You will have the entire time to complete your designs to submit for the competitions, which are due two weeks prior to your last day, in order to give the rest of the employees along with the Board of Directors enough time to deliberate and decide on the winner. This means your designs are due on Monday, March 6th, and I suggest you write that down, circle it in red on your calendars, just please do whatever you need to do to remember it. The winner will be announced at the annual dinner and reception held at the end of your internship.

"As for the rest of your time at the job, you will be treated like the rest of our full time employees. You'll have your own desk and desktop computer here, but you will make your own hours, much the same way our other design employees do. We have once a week employee meetings on Mondays at 10am and you will be expected to attend and participate, and since I'm your mentor we'll also meet every other week individually. Some of you have other jobs at the resort and we have already worked with their HR department to coordinator your schedules. "

After that, she passed out key cards and their small group was given an extensive tour of the office. The office took up the whole fourth floor and with all of its bright white walls and corridors interlaced with glass-walled conference rooms and metal industrial wall sculptures, along with the rows of large computer workstations Gendry was certain he would spend a fair amount of time wandering lost along all the similar hallways. Overall though, it was very impressive. They were shown to the design workstations that would be theirs for the next few months, each with two large flat screen monitors that rivaled the television in Hot Pie's apartment. Each had name tags up on the low dividing cubicle walls along with a large three ring binder and a stack of papers sitting on the desk. There were about twenty or so other workstations, all similar, but the majority of them were already occupied, either with someone working there currently or they had pictures and other decorations around them.

"Since it looks like we only have about an hour left before lunch, I'll leave you all here to work on setting up your computer the way you want it as well as your email. There are instructions in the packet of papers on setting up your email as well as redoing the default passwords. Everything should be very straightforward. You will also find a number of HR forms, contact forms, and a few others that we'll need you to fill out. We'll be meeting again at noon for lunch in the cafeteria - down the hall from the main entrance and to the right," Mya finished, then excused herself and left them by themselves. Right about now, when he sat down at his desk between Missandei and Pod and starting flipping through the forms he'd have to fill out was when it finally hit him that this was real. It was no longer some far off event that Professor Mott had told him about, albeit only after he was accepted, it was this job and, as he quickly decided, the prospect of winning the design competition that he would let consume his life for the next four months.

He pulled a pen out of his backpack to get started on the forms and then heard Missandei's voice softly calling his name. She was very good at the common tongue, but there was still the hint of her accent, a mixture of Valyrian and Astapori, when she wasn't concentrating on lessening it.

"Hey, Gendry…"

"Something wrong?" he asked, looking over to her. There was a low wall that separated the two.

"Oh, no, nothing wrong, but… have you looked at the black binder yet?" she asked, motioning with her head towards where it sat unopened on his desk. He quickly picked it up and starting flipping through.

"It just looks like all that's here are previous design and ad work for Baratheon and Winterfell campaigns," Gendry replied, not really sure what Missandei was trying to get at.

"No," she whispered. "Flip the back. To the portfolios. Is it just yours?"

Gendry grabbed the majority of the pages and flipped over to the back of the binder. It opened to one of his typography design pages he had done for his final. _Okay, that makes sense. This is_ my _binder_ , he thought to himself, but continued to flip the pages and soon figured out that Missandei meant. There was not only his design portfolio in the binder, but copies of other designs, each with Missandei's, Pod's, Devan's, or Harry's names added in a watermark in the bottom right corner.

He looked up and saw Missandei still looking at him silently, wide eyes even wider than usual, gauging his reaction. "What do you think it's for?" she asked.

"Clearly, it's so that all of us can size up our competition," a loud male voice said from behind them, causing Missandei and Gendry to both whip around in their chairs to find themselves face to face with its owner.

Harry.

It had been only a little over three hours since they had met, but Gendry was already fairly certain that Harry Hardyng would not be one of his lifelong friends that he met at his Baratheon internship. Podrick was looking over at the three of them, wanting to know what was going to happen, but trying his best not to get involved and Devan was in his own world, busy working on filling out his forms..

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean, size up our competition?" Gendry said confidently, leaning back in his chair. "It's not as if we don't already know that we were picked because we're the best. Well, at least those of us who don't have famous names or parents know that."

"You'd better watch yourself, Waters," Harry started, smiling smugly. "I'd hate to see you burn bridges before they're even built." Harry turned and walked back to his desk farther down the row, on the other side of Devan, as Missandei and Pod both gave Gendry sympathetic smiles.

For the rest of the time until lunch, Gendry tried to focus on anything but Harry. Instead, he spent his time slowly filling out all of the paperwork and then studied the design work in the rest of the group's portfolios. He knew better than to think about really starting anything with Harry, but he kept subconsciously sending looks his way, only to see him either minding his own business or saying something he must've thought was amusing to Devan, who would simply shrug and get back to whatever he was doing. While Pod stayed quiet out of his introverted nature, Devan seemed like the type that simply didn't want to get involved in any sort of drama.

Lunch rolled around, signaled by some of the other workers leaving their desks, and Gendry and the rest of the group followed after them. Lunch was fairly simple, even though Mya had ordered in enough sandwich trays and soda to feed all of the company for lunch and probably dinner as well. Lyanna joined their group and ended up going on and on about Bear Island, since none of them had ever been there. Lots of other employees had been walking up to Gendry and the group all day, introducing themselves, shaking hands, and a making a little small talk, and he knew he would need to make a concerted effort to learn all their names, but right now he sorely missed all the name tags that were common everywhere else.

At just past one, Mya said they would meet in a few minutes for a company-wide meeting in the large meeting room she had pointed our earlier on the tour, but they didn't actually go in. The room ended up being more like a lounge than an actual conference room. It was the only darkly decorated room he had seen yet in the offices. The walls were lined with bookshelves and there was a large cobblestone fireplace along one wall. The floor was a dark hardwood with warm colored rugs covering much of the area. It looked like the type of room that rich men would hide out in after dinner to smoke cigars, drink expensive whiskey, and complain about the womenfolk. The only tables that were available were coffee tables and side tables, since there were no conference room chairs, only couches of varying colors, styles, and sizes. Gendry sat down on a fabric couch of dark burgundy corduroy fabric, it was overstuffed and the back seams as well as front seams of the arm rests were studded with gold rivets. With Pod to his left and Missandei to his right, he could definitely tell that they were going to be in their own little group from now on. Pod had seemed to even relax a little bit at lunch, asking Lyanna about her life on Bear Island.

The rest of the employees gradually straggled in. He saw Devan and Harry sitting about a half row behind them next to a rather beautiful young girl, she had a round face with cheeks that showed off dimples when she laughed, and the curliest and brightest blonde hair Gendry had ever seen. She was busying herself talking to Devan waiting for the meeting to start.

At the front of the room there was a long grey couch with four people sitting, two men and two women, all who looked older than Gendry, and older than Mya as well. Mya stood up at the front behind a wooden podium with a banker's style lamp sitting at the top, complete with the frosted green lamp shade and gold pull chain.

Mya cleared her throat. "Good afternoon, everyone. As you all know, today is the day that we welcome five new interns to Baratheon Snow's design team. The same as every year, I ask for your help, patience, and understanding as you work alongside these five, one of which may become one of your future coworkers," she said smiling. "Now, I know that everyone is simply waiting for me to announce the theme for this year's design competition, and I will, but you'll have to wait. As I explained a bit earlier in our first meeting, each of the interns will be assigned to a different department and they will rotate so each of you will learn about all the different areas. You'll spend roughly three weeks in each group. All very interwoven, so you'll work with many of the same people, however your main mentor in each will change. I have worked with our management group to decide who your employee mentors will be from each department, but before I announce the pairs, I have a surprise announcement to make. We're lucky enough to have a sixth intern joining Baratheon Snow for the next few months," she said, as whispers started to rise throughout the room. "Some of you who have worked here for a while may have already recognized our guest, but if she could stand up, I'd like everyone to welcome Myrcella Baratheon."

Gendry watched as the pretty young girl next to Harry stood up, curtsied, then turned to shyly wave her hello. "Myrcella is the oldest daughter of our CEO Robert Baratheon and she is joining us from Maegor Women's College in Kings Landing, also for the next four months. Design interns, don't worry, she's here studying finance, so you won't have to worry about any home team advantages for Robert's daughter. Now, let's get you paired off…" she said, gesturing towards the group sitting on the couch in front.

Mya began to introduce the employee mentors and which department they represented, along with which of the interns would be paired when them first. Harry was paired with Mya herself, who explained that she would be handling the advertising department. Missandei was with Arianne Martell for ads and designs for Winterfell and other Northern companies. Arianne was a very short and very busty women, who, if not for the curves, would've looked very similar to Missandei. Her skin was an olive tone, very tan, and she had curly black hair that fell wildly to the middle of her back. Next was Pod, who would start his rotations in the web design department with Garlan Tyrell, a name that Gendry recognized right away. The last girl he'd dated in Kings Landing had been crazy for the Tyrell's designer purses and he saw them everywhere since he'd gotten to Winterfell as well. Garlan's wife Leonette worked for Baratheon as well, and she was Devan's first mentor for the merchandising department.

Last to be announced was Gendry, which he again blamed on his last name. He wondered if the gods were smiling on him that day when it was announced that the first rotation he would have was in the ski and snowboard design department. It would give him much longer than anyone else in the group to properly start his portfolio for the design competition and he thought it'd be a great way to make sure he was progressing in somewhat the right direction from the beginning. His mentor was Jaqen H'ghar, a tall man that had the artistic look down pat. He had shoulder length wavy hair dyed an unrealistic deep red with large white streaks on the left side, the type of hairstyle that would make anyone's parents remark about how you'd never get a job with hair like that. Obviously, it wasn't true for him. He was here and good enough to be chosen as an intern mentor.

By the end of that it seemed like everyone was getting antsy for the meeting to be over. There were quiet conversations popping up around the room and many people were starting to get their phones out.

"So, now since that part is out of the way," Mya continued, "let's get to the only part that most you care about. It is difficult for us to come up with a new and interesting theme each year, but I think we've got an excellent one in mind for this time. This year's theme will be history and heritage," she announced and then paused, many were jotting it down, starting to murmur amongst their near-by colleagues, someone in the back even attempted to start a slow clap. "Now, we are well aware that it is a rather vague topic and we intend for it to be taken as such. Make this your own. We know everyone of you has your own background to draw inspiration from and we also wanted to make sure to give you enough room to be creative without making anything too close to another intern. Alright, everyone," she said as she quietly clapped her hands together, trying to formally end the meeting, "that'll be all for this afternoon. Remember that any of these young people could be the future of our company, so please do not hesitate to help them in any way possible. Have a great rest of your day." As the majority of the room got up and started to leave, Mya left her spot behind the podium and walked over to the group of interns, with the other four mentors following a few paces behind her.

"We usually try to end your first day a bit early since it's a lot to take in, but before you please work on your arrangements with your mentor. It is a very individualized program and each one of us will have different plans and expectations for you. Afterwards you are free to go." Mya said. With that, everyone began to pair off.

Gendry quickly walked over to Jaqen, who, from closer up, looked as if he hadn't gotten sleep in a few days. He had dark circles under his eyes, along with what Gendry guessed was black eyeliner, and was somewhat more disheveled looking than the rest in a wrinkly forest green linen button down, sleeved rolled up to his elbows, hem half tucked in, faded black jeans tucked hastily into light brown leather boots.

"It's good to meet you," Gendry said, offering his hand out to Jaqen. "I'm Gendry Waters."

Jaqen paused, looking a bit reluctant to shake his hand, but at the last second before Gendry awkwardly pulled it away he reached out and shook his hand, much more firmly than expected. "That is known," Jaqen answered. He had a voice that managed to be baritone and raspy, yet soft and soothing all at once, as if you listened for too long with your eyes closed you'd be lulled to sleep. "This man has the honor to be Jaqen H'ghar, once of the Free City of Lorath's architecture and design school, now of Wintertown and Baratheon Snow. The lessons will start tomorrow afternoon at two. For the first lesson, a man must think of his reasons for being here and what he wants to achieve. It is of most importance that a man's reasons are well understood by himself before he goes before others."

Dumbfounded by all of it, the manner of speaking, the formality, and the potential eyeliner, Gendry stood and nodded silently as Jaqen turned and walked out of the meeting room as if nothing had happened. Everyone else was still discussing their plans when Gendry made his way back to his desk to grab his things and head back home.

Just as he got on the elevator, he felt his phone buzz. There was a text from Hot Pie. Gendry sighed when he noticed that he still texted like a young girl. _He has a smartphone, isn't it just easier to type correctly nowadays_ , Gendry wondered.

Text from: Hot Pie

_FYI - Jeyne is bringing Sansa Stark over 2 the apartment 4 dinner 2nite. Can u pick up some groceries? I'll email u a list._

Not five seconds later his phone buzzed loudly again, this time with the grocery list.

"Dammit, Hot Pie," Gendry said out loud as he scrolled through the email. "There's gotta be about twenty things on here." Leaving the elevator, he shoved his phone back in his coat pocket and headed off towards the grocery store, grumbling the whole way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright there, a lot of new characters here, I hope you like my descriptions. Next chapter up is half Jeyne Poole, half Gendry. Jeyne's not a huge POV character but I thought she'd be an interesting perspective to get.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN, part one**

**JEYNE POOLE**

**THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17**

_Seriously_ , Jeyne thought to herself as she sat in her car outside of Harclay Hall, watching the light snow fall as she waited for Sansa to join her. _Her class was over fifteen minutes ago, does it really take that long? Hey, now, why is that man looking at me?_

"What?" Jeyne mouthed as the man outside pointed to the sign on the sidewalk.

"Ugh, fire zone," she said out loud, though no one else was with her to hear. "One of these days, Sansa..."

Jeyne put the engine of her old red Jetta in drive and parked in the closest spot she could find, hoping that Sansa would find her. About five minutes later, as she was aimlessly scrolling through some website on her phone, there was a quick knock on the passenger side window.

 _Finally_ , she thought, and quickly pressed the unlock button.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, Jeyne. I'll bet you've been out here for almost a half hour now," Sansa apologized as she got in the car, tossing her backpack into the backseat. "Normally this lecture gets out early but we've got our finals coming up and there were tons of questions. I couldn't just get up and leave, there's only thirty people in the class. Too obvious."

"It's fine. The clock's a few minutes fast," Jeyne explained, gesturing towards the digital clock on the radio, then pulling out of the spot and making her way towards the road. "Anyways, we won't be late for dinner. I don't know what Hot Pie has on the menu tonight but it's got to be better than takeout from that Ghiscari place you always order from. I can't believe you eat that crap. It can't even be close to authentic so far away from a big city."

"Whatever, Jeyne," Sansa said playfully, rolling her eyes. "At least I work out..."

"Hey, now, that was a cheap shot, Sansa," Jeyne replied, giving her a little shove. "But speaking of working out, how's Sandor?" She looked over and winked, while Sansa just blushed furiously in return. "You met with him this afternoon, right?"

Sansa nodded, blushing again and wringing her hands nervously in her lap.

"And... how did it go?"

Sansa let out a deep sigh and looked out the side window, away from Jeyne. "Fine," she replied nonchalantly.

 _Sometimes I really don't understand what is up with her,_ Jeyne thought. _We've known each other for nineteen years and I swear she treats me a like a stranger at the bus stop when I ask her about Sandor. That's it, we're figuring this out, right now._

"Sansa Stark!" Jeyne said, loudly and forcefully as she pulled her car off onto a side street and slammed on the brakes. She sat stick straight up in her seat, hands gripping the steering wheel at ten and two. "I know you met with him today and that you needed to talk to him. If you don't spill these details to me, I swear to all the gods that I will leave you on the side of this road halfway home."

Silence.

Jeyne looked over at Sansa, who was staring at her with wide bright eyes, coppery hair winding its way out from underneath the fur-lined hood of her puffy white jacket.

A few seconds of awkward silence later, when she could tell that Sansa had finally gathered up the courage to speak, a wide smile erupted on Jeyne's face and she soon burst out laughing, filling the car with a loud half-laugh, half-cry.

"Very funny, Jeyne," Sansa replied sarcastically. "That's certainly the way to get me to talk to you about Sandor."

"Oh, lighten up, Sansa," Jeyne started. "You know I'm not gonna leave you stranded halfway home. But seriously," she said, pausing for a second as she put the car back in drive and pulled back out onto the main road. "You've gotta tell me what happened. Did you finally man up a bit and tell him how you feel?"

"I wish I could tell him but there's no way to do it that feels right, no time that feels right," she said, allowing herself to slump down in the seat. "It'll change everything, Jeyne. I see the way he looks at me and I can tell that at least part of him feels the same, but he'd never admit to it. He agreed to go to Jon's party on Friday, though. Small victories, right?"

Jeyne reached over and grabbed one of Sansa's hands out of her lap, holding it in hers as she rested her wrist on top of the gear shift. "You know I just want to see you happy, and I know he makes you happy. You've known him for years and I'd like to think that admitting your feelings wouldn't change anything. You'll do it when you're ready, I'm sure," Jeyne said reassuringly. Sansa looked over and Jeyne could tell that anymore serious talk and she'd be a huge ball of emotions, not what they wanted to have to deal with at dinner. "Until then, we'll all just keep dealing with the awkward, longing glances and the sexual tension wafting off you two."

Sansa giggled at that and took her hand away from Jeyne's to mess around with the radio, flipping through stations. "Oh, come now, Jeyne. We know we all have to compete with you and Theon for the sexual tension of the year award, the way he looks at you. I still can't believe you're actually dating him. He gets so obnoxious at times."

"He's not obnoxious once you get to know him better. He can actually be quite sweet, for your information, but you still are only able to see him as the gross older brother that spent years play fighting with Jon and Arry then pulling your braids as you walked by."

Sansa looked over at Jeyne and rolled her eyes, before finally settling on a station and starting to turn up volume louder and louder. "Wait? So you agree?" Sansa asked loudly, almost yelling as she continued to raise the volume. "I can't hear you, it sounded like you said that you agreed that Theon _is_ obnoxious and gross!"

"That's it! I give up!" Jeyne yelled, trying to raise her voice over the music, before resigning herself to sing along loudly to the radio with Sansa for the rest of the ride back. It only took around fifteen more minutes to get back to the employee housing complex.

Once inside, she made a quick side trip past the housing office to say hello to the young girl on duty, then joined Sansa waiting for the elevator. Every time she came back to Hot Pie's after work she was reminded of how glad she was that she didn't actually live in the employee housing. She wouldn't have minded too much really, the units were updated and almost as big as the apartment she shared with Sansa, but she would've hated to spend all day in the place that she worked.

Once the elevator finally arrived they made their way up to the eighth floor. Jeyne noticed Sansa giving her an unapproving look when she knocked on Hot Pie's door then immediately tried the door knob, and upon finding it unlocked let herself inside.

"Hey, Hot Pie! We're here!" Jeyne shouted, closing the door and then hanging up both her and Sansa's coats on the rack near the door.

"Great! It's almost done," Hot Pie said from the kitchen. "Gendry, why don't you go and set the table? I can take care of the rest in here."

Jeyne felt Sansa nudge her in the side just then and ask, "Gendry?" quietly, almost under her breath.

At the same second, both girls watched as Gendry emerged from the galley kitchen holding a stack of plates topped with silverware and napkins, clad in his jeans he wore to work that day, a tight t-shirt that at one point was striped blue and grey but now was covered in flour, and to top everything off, there was a ruffly pastel pink apron tied around his waist, complete with white polka dots.

"Ya know," Jeyne said, as she looked him up and down, "I think that's my apron. It's not right on you, the pink clashes with your eyes."

"I got it, ladies, go ahead and laugh," Gendry replied dryly as he started to set the table. Sansa quickly walked over to help him. "Are you our special dinner guest for the evening?"

"I am. Are you our waiter? I'm sorry, we haven't been properly introduced and I don't see a nametag anywhere."

He wiped his hands off on the apron and offered one out to her. "I'm Gendry Waters, Hot Pie's new roommate."

"Sansa Stark," she said politely, shaking his hand while trying not to laugh at his outfit.

"Yea, I recognize you from the meeting the other night. I'm pretty excited that the year I happen to come up here for work is the same year as when the Winter Games are here. Not as excited as you are though, I bet."

"Excited isn't exactly what I'd call it," Sansa said, sitting down at the table once it was finished. "It's an awesome opportunity for the resort, that's what I keep telling myself, but to tell the truth I'd describe the feeling as somewhere between nervousness and sheer terror."

Jeyne had taken the seat next to her as Gendry took off his apron, throwing it on the kitchen counter, then made his way back to his room. "Terror? Really?" he asked from his room. "Aren't these types of competitions that you've been training your whole life for? You should be more than ready."

He walked back out of the hallway as he was pulling a clean new shirt over his head. One side glance at Sansa and Jeyne could tell that she was just as thankful as she was, not only for the hallway light that was still on, but that Gendry had his shirt conveniently over his face so he didn't see the gawking looks that both girls gave, then quickly looked back down at the table.

"That's just it. I've been training for this my whole life. I didn't get to compete in the last Winter Games because I choked at the qualifying event, so I've spent the last three years building up to this again. I don't know what I'll do if I don't make the team this year, or worse, what I'll do if I make the team only to lose at the Games," Sansa explained, visibly getting worked up by the end.

"Hey now, don't get like that," Jeyne tried to reassure her. "It'll be fine. It will. You've been doing everything right."

"Yea, I'm sorry I brought it up. You might not believe me but I've got a pretty good idea of what it feels like to think you've got a world of expectations on your shoulders," Gendry said, taking his seat on the other side of Sansa. "We're all our own worst enemies."

"Dinner is served," Hot Pie announced at just the right time, walking out of the kitchen with a huge roast on a serving dish, surrounded by roasted carrots, onions, and potatoes, and setting it down in the middle of the table. "Dig in, guys. And Sansa, tonight this apartment is zoned as a 'no depressing talk' area."

Sansa smiled and nodded at Hot Pie, and started to dish up some of the roast for herself, then passed the large serving ladles over to Jeyne. _Alright,_ Jeyne thought, _I've got to change the subject to something else. Something light. Gendry's internship? No, I'm sure he's got enough to worry himself about after this first day…that's it!_

"So, Gendry, you're still planning on coming to Jon's part tomorrow night, right?" Jeyne asked.

"Of course. It'll be good to make some friends. Plus, I don't know when the next chance I'll get to apologize to Arya will be."

"Gods, you've only been here a few days and you've already got something you need to apologize to my wildling sister about?" Sansa asked. "Do I even want to know what this is about?"

Gendry took his time to explain the whole situation with Arya on Wednesday, running into her in the square, the yelling, and then seeing her barrel on stage afterwards.

"Huh, so she was telling the truth to our mom the other day…" Sansa said thoughtfully once Gendry was done with the story. "I wasn't sure whether to believe her or not."

"Well, you can definitely believe it. I've got plans to try and apologize to her at your brother's party. I wanted to say something that evening but she got dragged away pretty quickly."

"Our mother hates when something happens that could even vaguely be construed as embarrassing our family, so yes, she was quite angry. I'll make sure and give her a call tonight and let her know that at least Arya's story was true."

"So…," Gendry started, looking somewhat sheepish, Jeyne noted. "I don't need to worry about any boyfriends getting mad at me about this? I mean, I don't think I hurt her at all, but we did fall pretty hard and it was on that brick pathway so…"

 _Boyfriend? What does Arya having or not having a boyfriend have to do with any- Seven fucking hells_ , Jeyne realized. _He likes her! Gods, what an awkward way to weasel out that information._

Sansa covered her mouth and laughed quietly. "Boyfriend? Heavens, no. At least not now. I don't think she's really dated anyone since Ned Dayne a year or so ago. They're still friends though, but now they just hang out at that coffee shop in the village. From what I can tell, they're better suited to be friends." Jeyne tried to ignore the smile on Gendry's face that he was trying hard to stifle.

Afterwards, Hot Pie brought up a baking contest that they were going to have amongst him and the rest of his classmates, Sansa explained about the paper she needed to work on for finals, and Jeyne listened silently and tried not to blow Gendry's cover when he tried to surreptitiously ask a few more questions about Arya. She had already decided that she was going to be on his side for this.

Dinner was finished, Hot Pie brought out dessert, but neither Jeyne nor Sansa could stay very late. They were on the short drive from the employee housing to their apartment before she decided to mention something to Sansa about it, but Sansa managed to beat her to the punch.

"You know, I think it's sort of endearing how torn up Gendry is about Arya," Sansa started. "I mean, it's clear as day that he's got something for her, asking all those questions."

"Do you think you'll tell Arya he's coming to Jon's?" Jeyne asked, pulling into the parking garage below their apartment building.

"I had given it a bit of thought, but now I don't think I will."

"You should at least text her and say you met her new friend," Jeyne suggested. "He does seem like her type, dark with the distinct possibility of being brooding, maybe it'll be good for her."

"Maybe it will. I feel a bit sorry for him though, in a way."

"What?" Jeyne asked as they got out of the car. "Why in the world would you feel sorry for him?"

"He clearly has no idea what he's getting into."

**CHAPTER SEVEN, part two**

**GENDRY WATERS**

**FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18**

Friday morning started off much along the same line as the day before, only about a half hour earlier. His first day of working in the rentals and tuning shop was today, so it was yet another early morning. _I'm just glad they're not all like this,_ he thought. _At least a couple of days I have late starts. Once I really get going on any design projects I know it'll be just like back at school… late nights and bad coffee_. He threw on some pajama pants and was met in the kitchen by yet another home-cooked breakfast from Hot Pie. This morning there were omelets with cheddar cheese, broccoli, and ham, wheat toast, and fruit smoothies.

Gendry took his the portion that had been plated up for him and sat down at the counter.

"I'm glad this is the last day I've got to be the new guy," he said between bites. "I'm not sure how many first days of work I can take in a row. I felt as if all I did yesterday was run around and spout off the same introduction to a million different people."

Hot Pie had finished cleaning up the kitchen and was standing across from Gendry eating at the kitchen counter instead of the table. "This one will be fine. You met Meera the other day at the family greeting, so you know who you'll be working with. She's been working here the last couple of winter seasons so she'll be great at teaching you everything."

"I guess you're right. Meera did seem really nice...," He paused and spent a few seconds pushing his food around on his plate. _Seriously, just ask him Gen, it's Hot Pie, I doubt he'll mind a question_ , he thought to himself. "So, ugh, the girl who was over last night... Sansa?" Gendry said questioningly, "Is that really Arya's sister? She seems so... proper..."

"Geez, Gendry, I can see right through your questions, ya know? Do you always get this hung up on girls that you've technically not even met once?" Hot Pie asked, looking up from his plate at Gendry and trying not to laugh.

 _No, actually, just this girl_ , Gendry was going to say, but quickly thought better of it.

"Look," Hot Pie continued, "It's 6:15am right now, so all you've got to do is wait a few more hours, most of which you'll be occupied at work, and then you'll finally get to meet Arya for real, and realize that she's just a normal person."

"I know that she's just a normal person, but I don't know HP, there's something about her, something special, and I need to find out what it is."

"So what exactly is your plan?" Hot Pie asked, grabbing Gendry's empty plate and rinsing it off in the sink. "Will we get to watch you profess your undying love for her? Ask her out? Or just stammer a few apologetic words after a couple beers?"

Gendry got up from the counter and started to help with cleaning up. "Well, it probably won't surprise you that I haven't planned it that far ahead yet. Sansa did mention last night that Arya is single, so maybe I'll ask her out if that won't just make her more angry..."

"Well, this evening is your chance, whatever you end up doing. At least if you crash and burn this time the whole group will be lucky enough to witness the show, right?" Hot Pie said, throwing a dry dish towel at him and handing him plates to dry.

That didn't exactly leave Gendry with more confidence than he had before, but right now there was nothing he could do but wait. He quickly finished helping dry the dishes then showered and changed into this work clothes. He had decided to try to get to work a bit earlier today in hopes that Meera would also be early, so he caught the shuttle bus outside of the employee housing instead of walking. He'd seen the long lines at the rental counter when he walked to his internship yesterday morning and wanted to make sure he was able to at least get a bit of instruction out of the way before the normal crowd rushed in.

It only took the bus about five minutes to get to the drop-off area near the rental building. It was on the bottom floor of a large building close to the small square where the three main gondolas for each peak had their loading areas. In front there was the long row of ticket counters and to the right and left were huge automatic sliding double doors that went into the rental area. He got to the door just as the large clock tower chimed for seven am, but nothing happened when he walked closer to the door.

He walked up to it again and still nothing. He could see that he lights were on behind the counter but no matter how much he waved his hands at the motion sensor above him he couldn't get it to recognize him. Once he realized it was probably just locked still he went to knock, but stopped when he heard a girl's voice from behind him.

"Gendry? Is that you?"

He turned around and saw Meera Reed walking towards him, bundled up in her large Winterfell jacket. She pushed the hood of her jacket back, releasing a tumble of shoulder length wavy brown hair, which had definitely been much farther down her back the other day.

"Yea, it's me. Did you cut your hair since Wednesday?" he asked. If there was one thing that he'd learned was that it was almost a good idea to comment on a girl's hair, even if you weren't certain she had gotten a haircut.

"Chopped it off," she said nonchalantly. "It's a real pain to take care of when it gets that long."

"Well, it looks good on you," he said, and saw her olive green eyes light up as she flashed him a huge smile. "So, you don't happen to know another way in? I think we're both too early, the doors aren't even opening for me."

"No worries!" Meera replied cheerfully as she started to rifle through the large shoulder bag she carried. "I'm one of the supervisors for opening or closing shifts so I've got the keys in here somewhere."

Meera found her keys at the bottom of her bag a few seconds later and quickly unlocked the deadbolts at the bottom of the doors. Once they were inside she showed him back to the tuning and repair room, which was also where they could keep all their jackets and other items. It was a large room but still felt crowded with the various work benches, the large waxing machine, and all the tools and extra supplies. They were no lockers for any personal items, just a few cubbies, a mini fridge with a microwave and coffee maker on top, a small table and chair set with various drawings in permanent marker all across the top, and a very ugly and very well worn-in looking gray-blue couch finished out the room. It actually felt somewhat cozy and homey, maybe from the lack of extra space or from the couch that Gendry could've sworn was a stock item in every one of his friends' apartments in university.

"Alright, so since we've got a little while before our shifts actually start, I think I'll explain sort of how this works," Meera said when they made their way back out into the main area. "There are usually ten or so workers on each shift, some only coming to help out when it's busiest at the beginning and end of the day. At the front there are all of the computers for guests to create a profile. They'll put in their stats, height, weight, ability level, and once they pay at the counter they'll bring the print out to where we are here," Meera pointed up to the large sign reading "ONE" above their heads and then motioned to other signs "TWO" and "THREE" at other areas of the room.

She must've noticed Gendry looking about the room, all the helmets, boots, skis, snowboards, as if he was in some sort of foreign land and didn't speak her language.

"Let me guess, you've never been skiing or snowboarding?"

"Is it that obvious?" He asked back, running his hand through his hair, admittedly a bit embarrassed. _I might as well just have "outsider" written across my chest_ , Gendry thought. He briefly looked down and saw his name tag that said Kings Landing. _Oh, just kidding, it's already there_.

"It's not a big deal. Besides, since you work here you do get a free season lift pass and a lesson for free though, so you should make good use of it when you have the time." She walked over and grabbed a clipboard that was hanging up on the wall to the tuning room. "Here. See the schedule for this shift? Aside from you and me, we've got eight other workers scheduled for this morning and I recognize all the names. They know what they're doing. Since I'll be the supervisor on this shift I normally would just keep an eye on everything and help with problems, so you can shadow me and I'll get you a crash course in Outfitting a Winterfell Guest 101."

The next two hours of Gendry's life were a blur. He followed Meera around and hung on her every word. Even the simplest information was new to him, the forms to fill out, what was important to ask each person and what wasn't, even how to deal with young children getting frustrated at how tight the boots were. After the rush before and just after the lifts open, he was beginning to feel a little bit more confident and Meera decided that it was time for him to do some practicing on his own. By nine-thirty things had quieted down quite a bit to the point that the only other people in the rentals area weren't actually renting anything, just walking through for the bathrooms, to the use benches to put on their own boots, or to go to the tuning shop at the back.

Meera had a couple of the other workers take breaks and had Gendry go through the routine of getting them fitted for boots, skis, and poles and had given them instructions to write down different information then their own so he had to actually think about it. Even though he knew he was just faking it, he soon knew how to describe each experience level for people that weren't sure and could make his way through almost the whole rental process without having to look at Meera or one of the other workers for guidance.

1pm came around soon enough and once the workers for the next shift were clocked in, Meera, Gendry, and everyone else from the morning shift headed out.

"Hey, Gendry," Meera called. He was a few paces ahead of her when they got outside. "Did you want to grab lunch before your internship? Most of the shops are probably busy right now, but I know a few of the townie secret spots."

She said there was a small diner that was down a little back alleyway off the main pathway. He'd seen the alleyway she led him down yesterday afternoon but figured it only led to dumpsters or emergency exits for other restaurants. _Oh, it does lead to dumpsters_ , he thought, as they turned the corner.

"...Meera, are you sure this is -"

"Learn to trust, Gendry," she told him, looking back over her shoulder and shooting him a mischievous grin. He had stopped in the alley and she sighed, then walked back towards him and pulled him along. After one more turn to the left she stopped suddenly, announcing their arrival. There was a yellow painted door and a couple of windows in a line next to it, trying to let in as much light from the alleyway as possible.

Gendry stepped up to the small tattered menu in a plastic case next to the door, squinting at it to see to faded writing. "…wait, you've got to be shitting me," he said softly, and then turned to look at Meera, who was clearly proud of her accomplishment. "This really isn't…"

"You bet it is! Crown Deli, most authentic Kings Landing style delicatessen outside of Flea Bottom," Meera answered as she opened the door and led him inside. The inside was about what he had expected, about ten or eleven booths and then the counter seating, a large menu listing all sorts of sandwiches, and a cooler case with small containers of potato salad, coleslaw, and sodas. They both ordered and took a booth between two of the windows. As they waited for their orders to be called out, he noticed that all the decorations were pictures from around Kings Landing or the surrounding suburbs, his favorite part being the various subway entrance signs for all the places he recognized, Flea Bottom, the UWKL campus, Maegor Women's College, and the Baelor Museum district.

Their sandwiches were done quickly, complete with towering mounds of thinly sliced deli meat, spicy mustard, salt and vinegar chips, and giant pickles that were made in-house.

"Alright, Meera, you need to give me the truth. How bad was I my first day?" Gendry asked.

"Oh, stop that. If you were bad I would've told ya already. It was a good first day, even for a Friday. Fridays are usually sort of busy, but Saturdays and any holiday are always the worst," Meera explained, taking a bite of her sandwich. "You'll be in for a treat tomorrow morning. Might be a good idea not to get too wild at Jon's tonight, eh?"

_Shit. I hadn't even thought about tomorrow's morning shift… or how I'm even getting to Jon's._

"Yea, you've got a good point. So… that means you're going to Jon's right? Do you think you could pick me up along the way?"

"Of course! Hot Pie actually texted me earlier today to ask for a ride. Sounds like our winters were so scary that neither of you brought your cars up north with you," she joked. "But yes, I'll be by around nine tonight with my friend Bran to pick up you, Hot Pie, and Jeyne."

"Good, good," Gendry replied, at least someone is thinking ahead, he thought as the checked the time on his phone. "Crap, sorry Meera, I've gotta run. I've got to meet my Baratheon mentor Jaqen for my first assignment in about fifteen minutes. He's a little… odd… doesn't seem like the type of guy that would appreciate my lateness."

"Well, don't let me make you late. I'll see you later tonight… and don't forget what I said about the lift pass and lessons. It'll make the season a lot more enjoyable if you get outside a bit."

He grabbed a few napkins, wrapped up the rest of his sandwich back into the brown paper bag it came in and threw it in his backpack for later, promised Meera he'd think about the lessons, then headed back out in the alleyway to make his way to the administration building and Baratheon offices. Save for the few hours last night and busy time during his work in rentals today, he'd spent every spare second of his time thinking about how to answer's Jaqen's homework question. _What do I want to get out of this? A job? Well, yes, of course,_ he thought. _If I came out of this with a full-time gig at Baratheon there would be no complaints._

_That won't be good enough for him though, I just know it. I thought I had this all planned out last night so why am I second-guessing myself now?_

He stopped outside the administration building and with a deep breath he opened up the front door and went in, rounding the corner towards the elevators and giving Beth at the front desk a smile and wave as he walked past.

As he swiped his key card and walked into the office, he noticed the long hallway in front of him, the one that led to the management members' office, he noticed it was different than the rest. Painted the same bright white, but covered with pictures. There were easily thirty years' worth of pictures of young men and women all smiling their widest smiles and holding up skis or a snowboard, proudly standing next to the same three men in each picture, only two in some of the oldest ones. The men got older, the fashions changed, but the overall pictures remained the same. Each had a little plaque beneath it with the date and name of the person.

 _This must be everyone that won the design competition since the company started,_ he realized. He walked farther down the hallway and the pictures got more recent. He recognized Mya Stone, and then a few pictures before her he saw his mentor Jaqen's picture. He turned and looked at the opposite wall, which had skis and snowboards mounted on it from a few feet above the floor to the ceiling, matching the ones held by the winners in the pictures.

It was overwhelming, to say the very least. This hallway contained more raw talent, hard work, and imagination in such a small space than he thought he'd ever seen before.

Without thinking, he found himself walking slowly around that little part of the hallway, looking in awe at the designs created on the skis and snowboards hanging from the walls and then over to their creators on the opposite wall.

Without notice, he was snapped back to where he was.

"Mr. Waters, are you ready for your first real day? It is not good to keep a man waiting."

It was Jaqen, he noticed, turning around. _How did I not notice he walked up behind me? It's almost eerily quiet in this hallway and he managed to sneak up on me_. Gendry looked once more back at the designs, then back at Jaqen before he smiled to himself, realizing why his real reason and new goal for the internship.

"I'm more ready than I've ever been," he replied confidently, then followed behind Jaqen to start the second half of his long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Here's hoping I can keep my writing ahead of schedule since I really don't do well with time crunches and it's getting harder now that it's nice outside and I have my garden/running to occupy me. Next chapter up is Jon's party told by three POVs - Sam Tarly, Gendry, Arya.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**JON'S PARTY**

**FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18**

**-SAM TARLY-**

It was almost eight-thirty on Friday night and Sam Tarly was still as frazzled as he had been five days ago when Jon first approached him to tell him he was throwing a party to try to start the new ski season off right. He hurriedly walked around the apartment he shared with Jon and Ygritte like the world might end soon. Looking through the kitchen and into their living room, he saw Ygritte, sitting on the couch with Jon, messy black hair, grey jeans, and a t-shirt for some band that Sam knew hadn't been washed in quite a while. They were flipping through an old issue of some skiing magazine together. Perfectly calm. Not Sam. Most of their friends had gotten off work about an hour or so ago and very soon they were all going to start arriving in groups for the party.

He headed into the kitchen to make sure there was room for the beer and whatever else people would bring with them, moved some condiments around, and then threw out some wilted lettuce to make more room. In a little under an hour there would be pizza and breadsticks getting delivered by the Kneeling Man Inn, so he pulled out a large stack of paper plates and left them on the counter. He checked below the sink for more paper towels – he knew they'd need those later – and also for extra sleeves of plastic cups. After that he went back out of the kitchen, and watched as Jon and Ygritte's heads both turned curiously and followed him on his way to the bathroom to make sure that was fully stocked as well.

"Sam!" Jon yelled from the couch. "Stop it! You know you're really worse than Sansa some days. You've been fussing for over two hours. Gritte and I picked up the kegs already, they're tapped and sitting out on the balcony covered in snow. No one will notice if the hand towels in the bathroom don't match."

He heard Ygritte join in as he walked back to the living room. "Ya know he's right, Sam. Now stop worrying so much or you'll be too bent outta shape to be charming when your cute little Gilly shows up."

He got there just in time to see the stupid grin on Ygritte's face and for her to see that his face was now flaming red at the mention of Gilly.

"Ygritte, don't tease him," Jon said, standing and putting his arm around Sam's shoulders. "One day our Sam will get up the courage to tell Gilly how much he likes her. Who knows? Maybe it'll even be tonight."

Sam backed away a bit and shook his head. "Now, Jon, let's not get away with ourselves here. You know I'm still awful craven about talking to -"

DING DONG! DING DONG!

"Ohh, Sam, I bet that's her right there..." Ygritte said, looking up at Sam from her spot on the couch, that sly smile still on her face.

 _Gods, I hope it's not her,_ Sam thought. _Maybe Osha or Meera, I don't get like this around them. Even Theon, he's loud and rude sometimes but I could deal with that._

One more step and as he cautiously opened the door, he saw that today the gods were cruel and had chosen not to listen to him. Gilly stood on the stoop to their apartment in her winter coat, cheeks red and flushed from the wind blowing outside.

"Sam!" Gilly yelled, and rushed in to give him a big hug and he was suddenly glad that he was facing outside, since his face had undoubtedly gotten even redder than before. "Oh, wow, Sam," she said, walking into the apartment and taking a look around even though she'd been there countless times before. "Everything looks so clean."

"Yea, too bad it won't stay that way for long," Jon replied, as he took Gilly's big coat from her and hung it up in the closet. Once her coat was hung up, it was as clear as it always was exactly how little there was to her. Despite the cold, all she wore under her jacket was a summer sun dress and a pair of cowboy boots. Like Ygritte, she had also been raised even farther north than Winterfell and always insisted that the cold didn't bother her like it did the rest of them. She wasn't the same type of little like Jon's sister Arya, who was small yet muscular from her work, Gilly did stand an average height, a few inches shorter than Sam was, but he was easily three times her size. Despite having a huge appetite, Gilly couldn't weight more than one hundred pounds soaking wet. She worked at the childcare center, so Sam didn't know if she got that small from constantly chasing around unruly toddlers all day long or if she was just naturally very slight. He didn't care though; he would say she was perfect every time you asked him.

He wasn't quite sure what it was that attracted him to her, it could've just as easily been that she was the first girl to really pay attention to him. Sure, she was pretty, the other guys thought so too. Dark brown hair that hung straight down to about the middle of her back and curled slightly at the ends, matching brown eyes… but it wasn't the color, it was how wide and expressive they were. You could tell exactly what she was thinking by looking at them.

Jon caught Sam's eyes and shot a look at him and then nodded as discretely as he could towards Gilly before walking off. "Oh, so I guess you're the first one here…" Sam started awkwardly, trying not to stare at her. "Do you want a drink? We've got a keg and there's some more stuff in the kitchen and -"

"That'd be lovely!" Gilly said, grabbing onto Sam's arm and following him towards the kitchen. He opened the fridge and started lining up fifths and orange juice and other mixers on the counter for Gilly to choose from when the doorbell rang again. He turned to get the door and play the host, but saw Ygritte smile and wave at him to say "pay attention to Gilly" as she jumped off the couch to answer the door. _Maybe this won't be such a bad night after all_ , he thought.

**-GENDRY WATERS-**

After work, Gendry met back up at his apartment with Hot Pie and Jeyne for a quick dinner, took a shower, and got ready for the party at Jon's. Everyone he had met so far at work and quickly after the family greeting seemed pretty laid back, which was good since he was not up to any sort of get-together that involved dressing up. He'd only brought one nice outfit with him when moved. _Actually, I only have one nice outfit at all,_ Gendry thought, _and I'm sure I'd be way overdressed at Jon's if I wore a suit._

He heard Hot Pie yell from outside his room that Meera had texted and would be downstairs to pick them up in about five minutes. Gendry quickly picked out something to wear, jeans, dark grey t-shirt, and his black University of Westeros Kings Landing hoodie with the yellow stag mascot. _It's clean, so I guess this will have to do,_ he thought. _Am I trying to impress her? This is crazy, Gendry. You haven't even talked to her. You muttered some awkward apologies and she yelled at you. Meera will be here soon, so just listen to what she told you at work. Be cool. Be yourself. She doesn't like it when people are fake, when they say what they're supposed to._

The three of them headed downstairs a few minutes later, where Meera was waiting to pick them up. She'd already picked up Bran from the Stark's house and he was sitting in the front seat with Meera, his wheelchair folded and in the back of the ten or so year old dark green Subaru Forester that Meera and her brother shared.

It didn't take long to get to Jon's apartment but it was just far enough away that walking would've taken the better part of an hour, maybe a little more in the snow. He was on the end of the apartment building, the only first floor unit with no other apartments above it or on three of the sides. He hadn't even thought of how they would get Bran inside if his brother lived up a few floors. This time Jeyne knocked, instead of just barging inside, and no more than a few seconds had gone by before the door was swung open by a large man, about Hot Pie's size, that Gendry knew he should remember from the family greeting. He was sure that Jeyne had introduced them to each other.

Gendry didn't need to worry for too long, as Jeyne loudly exclaimed "Sam!" before giving him a hug and heading inside.

"You're Gendry, right?" Sam said, holding out his hand to take Gendry's coat. "I think Jeyne introduced us at the family greeting the other night. First season up at Winterfell?"

"Yea, first time up here. First time north, actually. You don't really have to take my coat, I can hang it up myself."

"Oh, it's no problem. I always end up playing the host when Jon has a party. He's more pre-occupied with his girlfriend Ygritte or trying to beat Theon at beer pong or whatever game they're playing," Sam explained, and Gendry gave him a look of confusion at most of the new names. "Don't worry, you'll like everyone. They're all very friendly and inviting, even to someone so introverted like me. Theon and Jon are playing beer pong right now against Jon's girlfriend Ygritte, she's the red head, and his younger sister Arya." At the mention of Arya he suddenly gave Sam his full attention. _Maybe I can learn something from him_ , Gendry thought. "I'm sure you remember her from the family greeting. What a scene! Can you believe it? I'm sure she got an ear-full from her mum later that evening. Arya and her mum are a lot more alike then they'll let you believe, both very stubborn women. And don't let her older sister Sansa trick you, all those Stark women are forces to be reckoned with."

As Sam continued to hang up coats for Bran and Meera, Gendry took a quick look around the apartment and noticed that their group was probably the last to arrive. Sansa was sitting on the couch watching two people play a game of Cyvasse, each game piece shaped out of a shot glass. One of the guys that was there was seriously tall, he could tell even though he was sitting down. Easily half a foot taller than him, more muscled, but the one side of his face was covered with burns and Gendry decided that was a story he didn't need to hear about at that moment. It didn't seem to bother Sansa at all, which sort of surprised him. She had been very nice, very cordial when they met the night before, but seemed like the type of girl that would want someone a bit more... perhaps "polished" is the word. A girl was on the opposite side of the Cyvasse table and, by the look of the game board, was keeping up with the big man remarkably well. She also looked a little out of place compared to how put together Sansa looked. The girl was older than Sansa, and sat hunched over the Cyvasse board, on hand resting across the ripped knee of her well worn in jeans, the other held back her long dreadlocks out of her face as she leaned forward, carefully trying to pick out her next move. He saw Robb in the kitchen, with a couple other people, including Jeyne Westerling that he recognized from the HR department meeting the other day. Meera had grabbed a couple plastic cups off the kitchen counter as was busy getting drinks for herself and Bran.

He followed Hot Pie into the kitchen and stood by where Robb was chatting with Jeyne, who Gendry soon realized, was his fiancé, mostly by the giant ring on her finger. Jeyne quickly introduced Gendry and Robb to each other, Robb shaking his hand and shouting a loud "Welcome to Winterfell." They started watching the beer pong game of Arya and Ygritte against Jon and Theon as it approached its final rounds. It was down to the last cup that Ygritte and Arya needed to make, but there were still three more left for the guys' team. He took the drink that Jeyne handed him when she walked up, and looked over just in time to see Arya sink her throw into the final cup. He couldn't help but watch Arya and Ygritte, well mostly Arya, as they hugged and jumped up and down cheering. Her hair was wavy, probably from being braided all day, and fell to just past her shoulders, her top was a loose faded t-shirt cut into a tank top, but she had bright red shorts on with black tights, somewhere between punk rock on the bottom and metal on top. He realized now that it was the first time he had seen her happy. _Well_ , he thought _, I have only actually seen her twice and both times I happened to be the cause of her anger. But this, this is different_. There was something oddly attractive when he could see the fury come through in her eyes, but watching her all energetic and giddy celebrating her win with Ygritte made him want to join the both of them, which his better judgment told him not to do. Instead he took another large drunk from his beer, trying to hide the growing smile plastered across his face. She was too absorbed in the game and her win to notice him in the background.

"Hey, hold on there, ladies," Theon said. "You haven't won yet."

"Yea! He's right. We get our rebuttal." Jon added smugly, as if all was not lost quite yet.

"Ugh, fine, you'll get your rebuttal." Arya said, sliding the other ping pong ball across the table to Jon.

"Alright, Theon, you can do this. Don't let them beat us, I'll never hear the end of it from either of them." Jon said as he handed the ball to Theon and stepped aside.

As soon as Jon realized that Theon's throw was completely off, he walked over, poured the remainder of the three cups of beer into his cup, sulked over and plopped himself down in an armchair in the living room. The ping pong ball plinked off the wall and rolled into the kitchen past Gendry's feet.

"Fine! You win!" Theon yelled, throwing his arms up in the air in defeat, as Arya and Ygritte walked back out to the living room arm in arm, Arya still singing along loudly to the 80s pop song that was playing on the radio, and Ygritte taking a seat on the arm of the chair Jon was in and messing up his already disheveled hair. Gendry watched with slight surprise as Jeyne walked over and threw her arms around Theon, kissed him quickly on the cheek and told him to calm down. "Hey, Arya, ya know if you're gonna sing like that, maybe Sansa will want to join you," Theon yelled loudly above the music. As soon as Arya heard that, she turned around to face Theon and just glared at him, a look close to the one she'd given to Gendry, but Theon looked back undeterred. "Aw come on, Arry, I can't remember the last time that the whole group got to see you and Sansa play something for us."

"Listen here, Greyjoy, if you say one more word -"

"What's the matter, Arry? Too craven? You play all the time at Indigo, what's so hard about playing here in front of us? We're all supposed to be friends, right?" Theon teased, and sure enough, everyone else started to join in. The only people not joining in were Sansa and the two friends of hers that were playing Cyvasse, they both looked deep in concentration despite the diminishing number of shot glasses left on the game board.

"SANSA!" Arya yelled. "I need you over here. Now."

Sansa made an exasperated sighing noise and picked herself up off the couch she'd been sitting on, smoothing out any wrinkles in the skirt of her light blue shirtdress as she walked over to where Arya was standing.

As the group clamored for the sisters to perform and everyone that was in kitchen took seat in the living room, Gendry took a seat on the floor across from the couch and next to Hot Pie, Robb, and his Jeyne. Jeyne Poole was pulling Theon into the living room, trying to calm him down from his new apparent victory of convincing Arya and Sansa to perform. He noticed that Bran had Meera sitting on his lap in the wheelchair and was somehow managing to look ecstatic and yet positively terrified at the same time. Ygritte quickly got up from sitting on the arm of the chair Jon was in, ran down the hallway towards the bedrooms, and when she came back into the living room a few seconds later she muted the volume on the stereo and held out an acoustic guitar in front of Arya.

"Here, don't be scared now, everyone'll love it. I promise." She said and shoved the guitar into Arya's face. Arya sat for a second before grabbing the neck of the guitar in one hand and pulling a protesting Sansa closer to her side the other.

"If I'm doing this, then so are you," Arya said through her teeth and then moved her attention to the twenty or so other people in the apartment. "Alright, everyone will get their damned performance, just hold on." She leaned the guitar against the armchair and stalked off into the kitchen, leaving Sansa looking around awkwardly, playing with a strand of hair that had fallen loose.

Gendry looked around as everyone anxiously awaited to hear what they'd sing. He realized that, most likely, he was the only one in the room that had never heard them sing… _did Arya even sing? She was singing along with the songs on the radio to distract Jon and Theon, but everyone sings along with songs on the radio. Maybe it would be just Sansa?_ He had no idea what to expect.

When Arya returned juggling two kitchen counter stools and another beer between her hands there were a few snickers throughout the crowd, mostly Theon, Gendry noted, and then there was quiet. In an oddly sister-like gesture, Sansa and Arya huddled together whispering, arms across each others' backs like a football team discussing their next play.

"Are they good?" Gendry whispered, poking Hot Pie in the arm to get his attention while trying to keep his voice low.

"You'll see, but I think you'll like it. It's one of the few things they can stand to do without arguing," Hot Pie replied with a huge smile.

Both sisters nodded at each other and they took their places on the stools, Sansa sitting up with her hands folded in her lap and Arya fussing with tuning Ygritte's guitar. When she was finished, Gendry watched as she nodded to Sansa with a huge smile across her face. This was the second time this evening that Gendry had seen her look as excited as she did now, despite her surliness at Theon's request to sing in the first place.

Sansa cleared her throat then started her introduction. "As you know there aren't many things that my dear sister and I are able to agree on, and of course which song to sing isn't one of them. Lucky for everyone, that means we'll have two songs instead of just one. They're both older songs, but as our other siblings and friends will recognize, these are what our mother and father raised us on, so I hope you enjoy it, since I don't do this too often," she said with a bit of a giggle. "This first one is my choice. Ready?"

Another nod from Arya to Sansa, then Arya started in with the first chords. Gendry immediately recognized the song as Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" even before Sansa started singing.

I took my love and I took it down  
I climbed a mountain and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills  
'Till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky  
What is love?  
Can the child within my heart rise above?  
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?  
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Sansa's voice was lovely, and Gendry could tell she was trained. It was very clear, strong when it needed to be but it was obvious just by listening that this was not any ordinary song to her - she'd chosen it not just because it was a classic that she was raised on. It was plain to him through her voice that the meaning resonated with her. He looked around the room and noticed most everyone singing along softly, everyone but the big man that had been sitting next to her on the couch earlier. _That's probably Sandor_ , Gendry realized. At dinner the night before, he'd heard Jeyne and Sansa talking about him in the living room while he'd helped Hot Pie clean up after dinner. Sandor sat on the couch in the corner of the room, behind most everyone else, holding his drink in one hand and hers in the other, intent upon Sansa. Gendry didn't know much about Sansa, only what Hot Pie and Jeyne had told him briefly about her and what he learned from dinner the previous night, but he knew what the look Sandor was giving her meant - she was the only person in this apartment that remotely mattered. He wondered if she had any idea.

Well, I've been afraid of changing  
'Cause I've built my life around you  
But time makes you bolder  
Children get older  
I'm getting older too

Once the song got to Arya's guitar solo, he realized he'd been watching the wrong Stark daughter during the song. Sure, Sansa had a great voice, but all the interactions he'd had with Arya paled in comparison to how she was now. She was calm, but still confident, sure of herself, but the way she hesitated just slightly when she looked up from watching her fingers made him think this was a skill she'd picked up instead of been taught.

Well, I've been afraid of changing  
'Cause I, I built my life around you  
But time makes you bolder  
Children get older  
I'm getting older too  
I'm getting older too

So, take my love, take it down  
Oh climb a mountain and turn around  
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills  
Well the landslide will bring you down, down

And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills  
Well maybe the landslide will bring it down  
Oh oh, the landslide will bring it down

Sansa stood up and pantomimed a curtsy as everyone else applauded. There were a couple shouts and whistles, mostly from Theon, that soon stopped when Jeyne elbowed him in the side.

Ygritte quickly stood up and threw her arms around the fellow redhead. "See," she started, "that wasn't so horrible, now was it?"

"No, no, it wasn't. Thank you for your applause but I think I'll sit this next one out and leave it all up to Arya."

Gendry watched Sansa as she moved through the crowd and back to the couch, and sit down next to Sandor, who handed her back her pink colored drink and put his arm around her cautiously, keeping it on the couch and not actually touching her at all. When he looked back over to Arya, he was startled to find that her eyes were on him. _Maybe this is the first time she's noticed that I'm here tonight. I was watching them play beer pong a little while ago, but I didn't say anything to her and she was all wrapped up in the game._ She was still looking at him as she picked her bottle of beer off the ground, took a quick drink, and set it on the top of the stool that Sansa had been sitting on. He didn't know whether to keep looking, to smile at her, or look away. _Gods, what is wrong with me? She's a girl who is looking at you and you're acting like you're in middle school and the popular girl wants to hold your hand at lunch._

"Hey, Arry," Jon said, breaking the silence. Quickly Arya's head snapped away from Gendry and she looked over at her brother, perched in arm chair with Ygritte at his side. "Don't forget to tune that. After Sansa's song I think I have an idea what you'll play."

She nodded and made fast work of tuning the guitar again. She seemed ready to go and Gendry couldn't wait to see what this would all be about.

**-ARYA STARK-**

In that moment, Arya might've said that she truly hated Theon Greyjoy. It had been fourteen years since Theon had come to live with their family. She actually had known Theon for the same amount of time that she'd known her youngest brother Rickon and she certainly had come to think of him like her other brothers, but when he got drunk and tried to pull crap like this she swore she could kill him.

Truthfully, she loved playing guitar and singing. Guitar was something she shared with her brother Jon, who'd one day finally gotten fed up with young Arya messing around with his guitar and bought her a Guitar for Dummies book. She'd come home every day from middle school, sit up in her room in the old house and practice and practice and practice, ignoring her mother's yells for dinner until one of her siblings would get sent up to retrieve her.

It wasn't performing in public that bothered her either. For the past year or so, Arya had been performing every Monday evening at Indigo Star Coffee & Tea Traders for open mic night, sometimes alone, sometimes with her ex-boyfriend Ned Dayne when he wasn't busy. She knew her crowd at open mic night, she picked out songs ahead of time that she knew would go over well, she didn't have to deal with bloody idiots like Theon Greyjoy potentially turning her into the sole form of entertainment for the entire night.

It had happened before, this past summer on Unification Day, which celebrated the day when all seven kingdoms were last brought together as a unified Westeros. In actuality, there were several "unification days" since the country had a long history of coming together, warring and separating, then coming together all over again. Westeros only bothered to celebrate the most recent unification or else there would probably be a holiday every month of the year. They had made the long drive to the provincial campgrounds that were outside of Deepwood Motte so they could spend a few days in tents around a fire, hiking through the woods, pretending that they could fish, and trying to swim in the waters that were just barely made tolerable due to what passed for summer up here. Jon played a few songs around the fire that first night, before handing his guitar off to Arya and wandering into the woods with Ygritte. From that moment on, it seemed like Arya was designated as the entertainment for that night, the next two nights, and, if Theon ever saw her with a guitar again he would immediately start yelling at her to play. He did it once when he saw her going into the music store in Wintertown, only to be disappointed when he found out she was buying more strings and wouldn't halt her day to play Freebird for him right then and there on the sidewalk like he wanted.

At the end of "Landslide" Sansa stood up quickly during the applause and curtsied, holding her wide blue circle skirt out as far as it would go. _Does she really need to do that?_ Arya thought. _We're not at the godsforsaken Dornish Philharmonic, half the people here were well on their way to being drunk when they showed up. They would've clapped just as loud if I'd have just put on the actual Fleetwood Mac version. Still though,_ she allowed herself to admit silently _, she is good though. I wonder if I could sing like her, soft and pretty instead of that low voice I have, if I'd joined the chorus in middle school instead of field hockey._

"See," Ygritte said, as she got up from her spot on the armchair next to Jon to give Sansa a hug, "that wasn't so horrible, now was it?"

"No, no it wasn't. Thank you for your applause but I think I'll sit this next one out and leave it all up to Arya."

Sansa politely excused herself and moved through the crowd slowly, sitting back down next to Sandor, her personal trainer, or friend, or unrequited love, whatever the hell it was this week. Arya watched him as he cautiously put his arm around her sister, very aware of where she was on the couch, careful not to actually touch her. _I honestly can't keep up with it. All I know is that they're both idiots if they haven't realized how fucking crazy they are for each other._

She scanned the small crowd for a second, a bit curious about how all these people had fit in Jon's tiny apartment. There had to be about twenty-five people crammed in there. As her gaze made its way from the right side of the room near Sansa, Sandor, and Osha and over to the left side of the room she noticed someone new. It was him, the same guy she'd ran into before. When she caught his gaze she soon realized that he was focused front and center, straight at her. His eyes widened when he realized she was looking right back at him, he'd been caught. _How did I not notice that he was here? I should've known though, as soon as I saw him hanging out Hot Pie and Meera the other night it was obvious that like it or not he'd be a fixture in our group for the rest of the season. Sansa had even mentioned something about him too. But gods, what the hell is up with this stare down he's giving me? Well, I can play along with this,_ Arya thought as she bent over to pick her beer bottle off the ground, took a drink, and then placed it on the stool next to her, all the while keeping her eyes locked on Gendry. He didn't know whether to keep looking, to smile at her, or look away.

"Hey, Arry," Jon said, and without a second thought she moved her attention over to her brother. "Don't forget to tune that. After Sansa's song I think I have an idea what you'll play."

Arya finished tuning her guitar from "Landslide" to her next song, then hopped back up on the bar stool.

"Alright, since Sansa has decided to pull from the Stevie Nicks' songbook, I'm also going to go down that path as well. I play this one pretty often at Indigo, so hopefully it won't suck," Arya announced as her introduction, took a couple deep breaths, smiled, and then started in on her song.

So I'm back, to the velvet underground  
Back to the floor, that I love  
To a room with some lace and paper flowers  
Back to the gypsy that I was  
To the gypsy... that I was

And it all comes down to you  
Well, you know that it does  
And lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice  
Oh, and it lights up the night  
And you see your gypsy  
You see your gypsy

To the gypsy that remains faces freedom with a little fear  
I have no fear, I have only love  
And if I was a child  
And the child was enough  
Enough for me to love  
Enough to love

She is dancing away from me now  
She was just a wish  
She was just a wish  
And a memory is all that is left for you now  
You see your gypsy  
You see your gypsy

Lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice  
And it all comes down to you  
And it all comes down to you

Lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice  
And it all comes down to you

I still see your bright eyes, bright eyes  
I have always loved you  
And it all comes down to you

She couldn't help but smile at the applause she received. She was well practiced at "Gypsy", one of her favorite Fleetwood Mac songs. Growing up, back at the old house, which was now mainly used for events and large Stark family functions, hardly a weekend passed when her parents didn't put the "Rumours" album on the record player, and had thought about a song from that album, but went with another instead.

She got up off the bar stool quickly, walking over to hand the guitar back to Ygritte. "I hope you were all amused by that performance. Ygritte, please put your guitar away so everyone else can stop watching me and get back to getting drunk and forgetting that it's almost officially the busy season."

Just like Arya had said, everyone got up and went back to whatever had been occupying them previously. Someone, probably Gilly, turned the stereo back up and Arya immediately recognized it as a newly remixed track from one of those famous DJs from Essos, possibly that one Targaryen girl. She turned around to walk back to the kitchen and noticed that, once again, that new guy Gendry was watching her. She'd heard from Sansa that she'd actually met him the other night when her and Jeyne stopped by over at Hot Pie's for dinner. Sansa had that said he didn't seem that bad, she had even went as far as to say that he seemed like the type of guy Arya would like. Tall, athletic build, handsome if you go for that just got out of bed and didn't bother to shave today look - which she did. _Apparently he felt really badly about what had happened. I guess I understand, but still_ , she thought, _I haven't heard the end of that from Robb or Theon and I doubt I ever will. Maybe he'll actually grow a pair and apologize._

Arya caught his gaze once more and watched him quickly divert his eyes and try to nonchalantly continue his conversation with Bran, Meera, and Hot Pie.

_Or maybe he won't. Well, fine, if he is going to be stubborn and continue this staring contest instead of apologizing, then I'll just go over there myself._

She grabbed her beer, go into her signature "Arya Stark is a bad ass" mindset, and walked on over. It was Hot Pie that first acknowledged her.

"Hey, Arry," Hot Pie said, "You really killed it on the guitar earlier on both those songs. I wish you'd play more often for us.

"Thanks, HP. I'm sorry the open mic night at Indigo starts at 7:30, I know you can't get off work early most weeks," Arya said. "But, enough about me. Are any of you going to properly introduce me to our new friend?"

"Gods, sorry. Arya Stark, this is Gendry Waters."

Gendry reached his hand out to shake her hand, and out of instinct she gave him a firm handshake. Against her better judgment she gave him a smug smile and probably kept a hold of his hand a bit longer than necessary, forgetting herself for a minute to better study his features in much brighter light than before.

"What brings you to Winterfell?" She asked, trying to get back to a conversation, trying to forget how correct Sansa was about him. "Not many Southerners move to Winterfell just so they can work in rentals. I don't suppose waxing and sharpening skies is a valuable skill set where you're from."

"No, it really isn't, but I'm here working on an internship with Baratheon Snow. I just graduated from UWKL last May and haven't really been working in my field, so hopefully this will help… if I don't freeze before springtime comes," he said, with a bit of a laugh. Bran, Meera, and Hot Pie had wandered off to let them talk and she took a spot next to Gendry on the couch.

 _Oh shit_ , she thought. _You don't like his laugh too, do you Arya?_

"Freeze? It's not even that cold out yet. Let me guess, not much for winter sports either, eh?"

"No, definitely not. I actually hadn't seen snow that lasted more than a day before I got here," he confessed as Arya looked at him with an astonished look on her face. "Even now I haven't got much time to get out, with both jobs starting at the same time. My intern mentor even gave homework for the first day, I couldn't believe it."

"First day? Your mentor must me be a gods damned slave driver," Arya said, making him laugh again. _What are you doing, Arya? He's looking at you like that again, like Ned Dayne used to when he first realized he wanted to not be just my friend anymore,_ she thought. _Fuck, why'd I wear this?_ She quickly diverted her eyes down to her outfit. Alright, it wasn't exactly scandalous, nothing she owned was, but it wasn't exactly normal for her either, especially in November. Short red denim shorts, black tights, and her regular combat boots, and an oversized faded grey t-shirt tank top with large open neckline and armholes. It brought out the only parts of her she really liked, her legs, lean and muscled from years spent on the mountain, and her shoulders, while conveniently hiding the fact that her chest wasn't much to talk about.

"Well, what'd you tell him?" Arya asked, looking away. _Gods, why does he look so familiar,_ she asked herself. _More importantly, why is this conversation so easy for me? I haven't had the urge to knock that grin off his face since we sat down. Maybe he's actually a good person to be around when he's not running into people in the square._

"The truth," Gendry started. "I thought that all I wanted was to make it through the internship, make some contacts, and maybe come out with a job or at least a lead on one. But while I was standing down one of the hallways in the Baratheon offices surrounded by the pictures of all the past years' design contest winners I got to thinking. I've got no family left, and no one in my life left that I need to impress, no one whose expectations I need to live up to, only my own. I told him my goal was to simply succeed. To prove to myself that I'm good enough and that four months from now, you're going to be able to look at a picture of Gendry Waters hanging up in that hallway next to all the other winners."

Arya listened silently to his explanation, trying to imagine what it would be like to have no one on your side rooting for you to succeed like she had always had. Even now when her family bugged the daylights out of her to try harder than she was, she did know deep down that they were on her side. _He doesn't have that_ , she thought, looking up at him and giving him the best reassuring smile she could muster.

"That's a good answer," she said. "But do you think you've got what it takes to win?"

"You've never seen my work," he replied, still smiling that same smile back at her, deep bright blue eyes, something that Sansa would describe with words like 'captivating' or comparisons to the Narrow Sea or the sapphires waters of Tarth. Arya herself never thought in flowery metaphors, but the results were the same nevertheless.

"I haven't," Arya agreed. "I have seen the work you can do in the square though." He immediately changed from the slightly mischievous, slightly smug look that had been taking its toll on Arya for the last ten minutes to looking like he wanted to go hide down the hallway.

"Oh, gods, that. Listen, Arya… about the other day, I've been meaning to apologize for all the trouble I caused for you. I wanted to talk to you that night, right after the family greeting, but it looked like your mother made you leave," he started. "I'm shit at this type of stuff though, apologizing. I feel terrible… I've never had to live in the spotlight like you do and I've got no idea at the pressure that's put on you. If I could start that day over I would, since I would very much like to try and be friends with you, especially after getting to see you tonight," he said, pausing for a second and placing his large hand rather affectionately on her arm. She could feel herself tense up and feel her heart start to pound. _Seven hells, what's happening? When did I get so close to him and oh, gods, he's touching me now and, ugh, fuck me if he doesn't smell bloody amazing_ , she thought to herself, all those thoughts racing through her head a mile a minute.

"I had actually heard you were the best ski instructor that Winterfell's got," he continued, "and hoped you might have time to give me a lesson. I heard I get a free one at first and since I've never even tried before I figured it couldn't hurt to learn from the best."

In an instant, Arya's entire point of view on the conversation changed. Despite the apology and the flattery about the lesson, something just didn't sit well with her. _We were doing so well_ , she thought. _I actually thought for a moment when he mentioned being friends that I was on the verge of being invited out to dinner. Gods know I haven't been on a date in fucking forever, not that I care, but still. Apparently not how they do apologies in the South. Shouldn't he be the one making it up to me?_

"Wait now, wouldn't that be helping you out? If I recall correctly, YOU'RE the one made me late," she said angrily, getting up from the couch but taking a step closer to him and pointing her finger up at him to accentuate her point. "YOU'RE the one that got me embarrassed in front of the whole damned resort. And YOU'RE the one that made my mother give me hell later that night. So, no, you stupid bull-headed boy, you don't get to embarrass me like that and then ask me to spend half my day doing you a favor, just because you want to be friends and we had one pleasant conversation at a party."

He sat there silently in front of her, a dumbstruck look on his face. He only had to raise his head a few inches to be on the same level as her know. She knew she had made a bit of a scene, but wasn't going to step away just yet. Instead, she narrowed her eyes again, waiting for him to say something back at her. She felt the eyes of a few of her friends on her as she stood there in front of him, they'd more than likely heard everything.

"Hey, Arya! Arry!" Theon called, standing back over by the beer pong table, waving at her as he worked on setting up and filling the cups again. "I bet your scrawny ass can't beat me again!"

 _Oh, thank the gods, Theon Greyjoy is a life-saver,_ Arya thought, completely changing her thoughts from earlier.

"Well, it sounds like I've got some better prospects than arguing with you right now, but thank you, I've enjoyed the opportunity yell at you once again," she said, and then joined back up at the beer pong table with Theon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I almost forgot to update today because of the long weekend. It's got my days all off kilter. There are two songs in this chapter, both of which are (unfortunately) not my work. Next chapter is Arya's POV.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

**ARYA STARK**

**SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19**

It was dark. And warm. Most of all, it was way too comfortable. Only a few beams of light had started to filter through the horizontal blinds on the window. Arya had woken up a few moments ago, with the worst hangover she could remember in a long time, and it took a couple of seconds for her eyes to adjust and then finally figure out where she was. She'd woken up in that same dark, warm, comfortable spot many times before, usually after a fight with Catelyn, except this time she wasn't on the futon.

She was bundled up in a nest on the floor, a cocoon she must have made out of pillows and old blankets stolen off the futon, before she had passed out, curled up in a ball in front of the heat vent in the corner of Sam's room, between the futon and the wall. If she wasn't able to sleep on the couch in the living room, she normally was more than happy to take the futon in Sam's room. There was a couch in Jon and Ygritte's room as well, but the one and only time she had tried to sleep there it was, well, awkward to say the very least. Her eyes had adjusted to the still dark room now and she could make out the outlines of his computer desk, dresser, and bed. She sat up slowly and could immediately feel all of the effects from last night pounding behind her eyes. Her stomach felt like she hadn't eaten in days.

_At least it's early_ , she thought. _I can't believe I didn't miss half the morning_. She cautiously got up from the nest she'd made for herself, saw that the alarm clock on the bedside table only read eight-thirty, and silently thanked the gods that her body had somewhat of an internal alarm clock still left over from high school, since she had completely forgotten to set an alarm on her cell phone, a normal occurrence for Arya after a night of drinking. Usually she would hate that internal alarm clock sort of thing, but the last thing she needed to do today was wake up at two in the afternoon and have missed the private lesson she had scheduled for three hours earlier. Sitting up slowly, she reached to her right and left, then finally found her black and white checkerboard print backpack underneath the futon. Pulling it to her, she opened the smaller zipper on the front pocket and grabbed two aspirin out, which she looked at for a second before shrugging to herself and swallowing them dry, hoping they would help out with her headache.

She quietly made her way to the door and only then did she notice Gilly soundly sleeping on Sam's bed, completely above the covers, still wearing her dress and cowboy boots. She picked up the blanket she been using and softly laid it over Gilly, who curled up also instinctively and rolled to her left, not waking. Closing the door carefully behind her, she squinted her eyes as she walked out into the bright light of the hallway and finally she saw where Sam had made his bed for the night. He was laying on the couch in the living room, not quite fitting, with an old knitted blanket that barely looked like it was made to cover someone Arya's size. As she walked to the kitchen to start some coffee, he woke and sat up on the couch.

"Is Gilly still in there?"

"Oh, hey, Sam. Morning. Yea, she's still sleeping. Next time maybe give the girl some pajamas or at least cover her with the blankets. I put one of the old futon ones on her. Probably was no need for you to sleep out here on the couch though, your bed's plenty big enough for the both of you," Arya replied, hitting the brew button on the coffee maker and grabbing out a mug for Sam and a travel mug for herself from the cabinets. She was at Jon's enough to know where everything was, practically better than she did at their condo.

"I can't do that, Arya, it's not like we're dating or anything," he said, sounding rather sullen.

"I bet Gilly wouldn't mind. Besides, it's pretty obvious she likes you anyways."

"What? You mean it?" Sam replied, excitedly jumping up off the couch.

_Well, crap. That certainly got his attention. I'm not sure I've seen him move that quickly before._

"Yes, stupid. Of course I mean it. Sit back down. You never see her flirting with any of the other guys like she does with you," Arya replied, walking over a mug of coffee to him. "But hell, what do I know? Maybe you should ask Ygritte or Jeyne. I'm certainly not the master of romance by any means."

"You seemed pretty cozy with that new guy for a while, at least until…" he said, his voice drifting off.

Arya was busy pouring her coffee and eagerly going through their kitchen cupboard and refrigerator for something to eat when Sam's comment brought her back to the events of last night.

"You, um, heard about that, huh?" she asked, head and arms halfway inside the fridge.

"Arry, everyone heard that. I'm sure it'll be the new bit of gossip across the resort workers by lunchtime today."

"It's all his fault anyways, so they can talk about it all they want." She pulled out a few packs of cheese sticks from the refrigerator and grabbed a banana from a basket on the counter. "But whatever, though. I figure since Hot Pie, Jeyne, and apparently everyone else loves this guy that I might as well learn to tolerate him."

Sam just shrugged his shoulders at her, relaxing back on the couch with his coffee, turning on the TV, and pulling the blanket back up around him. She shoved the food she'd taken from their kitchen into her backpack and started putting her clunky snow boots and jacket on.

"Well, I'm heading out, Sam. Tell Jon and Ygritte I had to work so I couldn't stay for breakfast, okay?" she asked, pulling the backpack straps over her large jacket.

"I will. See ya later, Arry," Sam replied from his spot on the couch, as she opened the door and let herself outside. As she made her way to the bus stop outside the apartment complex, she felt her backpack start to vibrate.

_Who the shit is texting me at nine in the morning? I told Mom I'd be staying over at Jon's tonight_ , she thought as she juggled her coffee and grabbed her phone out of the side pocket on her backpack.

Text from: Ned Dayne

Hey, I'm back in town. We still practicing this evening?

_Ugh, how did I forget about this? I didn't even realize he was back in town so soon._

Text from: Arya Stark

Yea, no problem. Your place? I don't think you want to come by our house.

Text from: Ned Dayne

Last time your mom cornered me while you were in the bathroom and started asking me when we were going to start dating again. Pretty awkward, so yea, my place.

Text from: Arya Stark

You know Catelyn. I'm not doing anything so I might as well get on the fast track to housewife.

Text from: Ned Dayne

I very politely told her not to get her hopes up. So four-thirty? I was thinking pizza from Kneeling Man.

Text from: Arya Stark

I'll be there.

The bus arrived only a couple minutes later and in less than a half hour she had finished with the cheese sticks, banana, and coffee she had taken for her breakfast and the bus had dropped her off practically at the doorstep of their condo back in the village. When she got inside, she was relieved to find the house quiet. _Rickon must already be out with his friends on their boards for the day_ , Arya thought. He was fourteen and still wild and full of a never-ending amount of energy, a trait their mother had hoped he would grow out of gradually as he grew up, which was not the case yet. She knew he'd come home from the mountain covered in bruises and probably bleeding, having taken all of the dares from his friends to try some sweet new stunt on the half pipe that they saw in the latest boarding video on YouTube. Arya's wildness, which also plagued their mother, came from a different spot. Not a complete lack of self-preservation like Rickon, she was daring, but not so much as he was. Hers stemmed from the resentment of never feeling like her best was enough, from a deep-seeded belief that her life, the only one she had, was hers and that being happy doing what she loved should be enough for the people she loved.

She left her snowy boots and jacket in the laundry room and passed by the kitchen where she was surprised to see Nan cleaning up the kitchen, yellow rubber-gloved arms elbow deep in sudsy water.

"Oh, Arya, dear. I'm surprised to see you here. Did you have fun at Jon's?" She asked, continuing to work on the dishes.

"Of course. You know I love getting to see him. First time the whole group has had the free time to get together in a while, so that was good," she replied, hopping up to sit on the countertop. "I didn't expect to see you here today though. Is everyone else gone already?"

"All gone already, that's right. Your dad was off to his office before the sun came up as usual, Rickon's off with his friends, surely he'll come back with a million bumps and bruises, ya know? I think Bran's off at the library... and oh, you just missed your mum. She left, hmm, let me think, had to be only ten minutes ago," Nan explained. "But I bet you don't mind that one bit, eh?" She said with a smile.

"Nan, you know how it is," she said, aimlessly moving around a couple spice jars around that counter that had been left out. "I love them both, Mom and Sansa, but gods, you see how they talk to me. I can't help but get defensive."

"I know, dearie, I know," Nan answered as she pulled out the sink drain and peeled off the yellow gloves, setting them over the divider in the middle of the sink to dry. "You'll find your way, don't worry too much. Now get down from that counter and give me a hug... then go take a shower and wash off that smell, wolf child. I can smell the party on you from over here," she said, another big crooked smile on her face. Arya obliged happily, hopping down off the counter to give Nan a hug.

She was always glad when she was able to talk to Nan, just the two of them. She'd never had any other grandmother figures in her life, both her parent's mothers had passed away before she was born. Nan always treated all of the Stark brood like one of her own and had never been less than that perfect mix of a Grandma that bakes you cookies and talks to you when you're upset and friend that will give you great advice and tell you like it is, what you need to hear even if it's not what you want to hear.

Nan released her from the hug and Arya headed off to her room upstairs. She held her grey shirt she'd worn last night up to her nose for a second after she took it off and realized Nan was correct. "Well, that one's definitely dirty," she said out loud to herself, tossing the shirt in the hamper in the bathroom. _I almost feel bad for Nan since she'll have to pick that up again to wash it. She was right though_ , Arya realized. _I smell like a mixture of beer and day-old sweat. Meh, doesn't really matter now. Although… I guess I was that smelly person on the bus this morning_ , she thought, smiling to herself as she stepped into the shower.

Afterwards she changed into her regular outfit for lessons, UnderArmour bottoms and tops, then pulled on her green snow pants and worked on braiding her hair away from her face. When she finally got back downstairs, she saw that Nan had left her a plate of waffles on the table and Arya thanked the gods that her stomach was finally starting to feel at least a little bit more like normal. She finished them quickly and then left to make her way to the offices in the village. She had about an hour before she was scheduled to meet up with her lesson for the day, but Saturdays were usually when the list for next week's lessons was first posted and she liked the idea of signing up and getting the skill level of skiers that she like working with the best or being able to pick up shifts from the other instructors that needed the time off.

A few minutes before eleven, she arrived at the base area of all three peaks and met up with a young girl, Kyla according to the bright yellow ski school vest she wore over her snow jacket. She was five and signed up for an advanced beginner private lesson. She seemed very enthusiastic, which was normal for the students her age, and her parents explained to Arya that she had a couple of group lessons before but always seemed to get lost in the crowd, so they figured that maybe private was the way to go this time. She eagerly hugged her parents and waved goodbye, then turned and looked up at Arya.

Arya bent down to the girl's eye level and did a quick once over to make sure her helmet was on right and her boots were actually latched. "Hey Kyla, I'm Arya. It looks like you'll be hanging out with me today," Arya said, adjusting the strap on the girl's helmet and pushing some of her hair back. "We're gonna take the gondola up Castle Black and get off at the halfway point, how's that sound?"

"Great!" the girl replied, and then stuck her gloved hand out in front of Arya, waiting for a high five, which she gladly gave once she realized that was what she'd wanted. They grabbed their skis from the rack by the gondola entrance and made their way up the halfway point, non-stop conversation the whole way, everything from all about her family, how much she loves the snow, to her school back home in Maidenpool and the little boy in her arts class that sometimes tries to eat the watercolor paints.

Arya watched her get her skis on with no problem once they were off the gondola at the halfway stop. "We've got all green runs from here that'll be awesome for you to start on," she started, looking around and the pointing at the large direction boards. "Oh, there we go. How about Florian's Find? Since you're a Maidenpool girl and all."

Kyle nodded her head quickly and pulled her goggles down as Arya did the same. "Alright, since we haven't skied together before, Kyla, how about you go in front of me and make some good sweeping turns so I can see how awesome you are, okay?"

"Okay, Miss Arya," she agreed and headed off down the wide, easily sloping run. It was gentle and wide enough that Arya felt she didn't have to worry but still just steep enough for her to get a good idea of what type of turns she'd make. She followed behind Kyla, watching the young girl trying her best to keep her skis from pointing too much together in the front and listening very well and making big huge turns like Arya had asked her too. _She keeps on wobbling though, almost awkwardly_ , Arya thought. Like that weird wobble my legs when they're dead tired and sore from day after day of work… but she should be fine, it's her first run of the season.

Kyla pointed her skis together and snowplowed to a stop in the middle of the trail, next to another big trail marker sign, where the two new trails, Jonquil's Fool and Six Maids, jutted off to each side. Arya stopped alongside her, shooting snow all over the tops of her skis to make her laugh.

"Great job, kid," she said, patting her on the top of her helmet. "But are you feeling okay? You were looking a little wobbly. Boots feel alright?" Arya knelt down and pulled up the bottoms of the girls dark purple snow pants.

"Yeah, they feel great."

"How much can you wiggle your toes around?" Arya asked, looking at the girl a little suspiciously. _I've never had a kid this age react so positively about their boots, usually they're all 'my legs hurt' and 'my toes are smushed.'_

She looked at Arya for a second, contorting her face like she was really thinking about it and putting all the effort she could muster to move her toes around in her boot. "I can wiggle my toes a lot," she said, laughing a little bit. As Arya had her snow pants pulled up above her boots she watched the little girl as she attempted to move her toes and ended up almost able to pull her whole foot out.

_Great, just great. First the side of the mountain puking girl and now this. The gods must be laughing at me. I bet this is just the start to a season full of fun ski lesson adventures_ , Arya thought. _But gods, who the hell thought these were the right size?_

"Well, Kyla, I'm sorry to tell you this, but we've gotta make a beeline right back to the rentals shop. Some dummy got you boots that are way too big for your tiny feet," Arya explained, trying to wrench down the clasps on her boots a little tighter and then pushing the bottoms of her snow pants back down over her boots. "We'll keep going down this run, just follow the gondola line up there to the left, okay?"

"O-kay!"

_All I want to do is get her down to the bottom, into some boots that fucking fit, and back up Castle Black so she is still able to get the last three hours of her lesson. Please don't let that be too much to ask today._

Thankfully the rest of the way down was uneventful. They got down to the bottom a little bit before noon, which meant that all the restaurants would be packed, but their destination was the rentals shop, which would most likely be very quiet. Leaving their skis propped up near the gondola entrance, Arya unbuckled both their boots, and took her hand to keep her close through the Saturday lunchtime crowds as they walked across to the rental shop. She cursed under her breath as she walked through the rental shop's automatic doors and immediately noticed Gendry, not thirty feet in front of her, kneeling on the ground in front of two small boys, alternating between measuring the feet of the older looking one and trying his best to calm down the younger looking one, who already was not enjoying his ski boots.

Arya quickly walked Kyla over to a bench on the other side of the room and luckily Gendry was too caught up in his work to notice her walk by.

"Okay, Kyla, why don't you have a seat up here and I'll go find one of my friends to help get you some better boots. Deal?" She asked, picking the girl up under the arms and setting her down on the bench.

"Deal, Miss Arya," the little girl replied smiling. She was all toothy grins, light shiny blue eyes, and outrageously curly brown hair sticking out of her helmet, not in the least bit aware that she could've actually hurt herself. _Alright, Arya. Get in, get Kyla's boots switched out, and get back on the mountain. That's all. Besides, you're in a lesson. Can't stick around_. She made a quick scan of the room, trying to find someone available to help with Kyla when she saw Meera standing across the room next to a couple holding snowboards, pointing them towards the back corner where the tuning shop was. She looked back over at Arya a few seconds later, who quickly waved to get her attention.

"Hey, Arry," Meera started, "Didn't think you'd be in here today after last night, much less working."

"Well, I didn't think you could be all over Bran any more than you have been before, but somehow you managed to prove me wrong last night," Arya replied, looking up with a smug grin on her face at Meera, who stood there wide-eyed and blushing, total deer in headlights.

"That's a little harsh," she finally said, but only paused a second before she wraps her arm around Arya, walking her back over to the sign-up kiosks near front entrance area. "I deserved it though. But anyways, what brings you here? Problems?"

"Yea, you've got that right. Problems. Listen, Meera, I don't know what idiot you've got scheduled for Friday closing shift, but whoever they are, they let my student, the little too-freakin'-cute-for-her-own-good one back in there in the purple," Arya said, pointed back towards Kyla, "They let her rent boots that are about three damn sizes too big. I'm lucky she made it back down the mountain without rolling an ankle."

"Well, shit. Yesterday, you say? Probably one of the new ones. I'll let Mr. Marsh know some of the supervisors need to start doing their training better. Gendry's the only new recruit I've got," Meera said, gesturing over at him. The two little boys both had their boots on, big smiles, and he was kneeling down again to gladly accept the hugs they wanted to give him. Arya found herself smiling at the whole scene, but shook it off and turned back to Meera, telling herself that it was only just reminding her of back before Rickon had grown up.

Meera looked over and noticed the look her face. "Don't worry, he's new but he's really good though. Caught on rather quickly. He'll get Kyla's boots fixed right up," she said. "You go wait with her and I'll bring him over."

"No, wait, Meera... are you sure?"

"Yes! I am," Meera said, placing her hands on Arya's shoulders, pointing her towards where Kyla was sitting, and pushed her that way. "If this is about what happened last night, you'd better stop it."

Arya huffed at Meera's words, but she knew she was right. A little bit defeated, she huffed and joined Kyla back on the bench on the other side of the room. A few seconds later, Meera and Gendry made their way over, her with a clipboard holding what Arya assumed was Kyla's information sheet from yesterday, and him holding a foot measuring device like they have in shoe stores.

"Okay, Gendry," Meera started, handing him the clipboard, "If you can help Arya and her friend here I'm going to start getting ready for the afternoon shift change. If you need anything just yell."

He nodded and then knelt down to get on to the same level as Kyla. Arya watched his eyes skimming over the clipboard and finally he looked up to meet hers.

"So, Meera said she's got some problems with her boots?"

"Um, you could say that. They're way too big," Arya replied, trying to busy herself looking around the room or at Kyla to avoid his eyes.

"Okay, well... Kyla, is it?" he asked and the small girl nodded in agreement. "I'm Gendry and I'm gonna see if I can get some better fitting boots for you, okay?"

"Okay, Gendry," she replied, sticking out her feet in front of him.

He rolled up the snow pants on her left leg and started to work on getting that boot off. _Okay, Meera was right. I guess he's not that bad at this_ , Arya thought, watching him intently as he worked. _It's actually verging on cute, watching this big guy talk so enthusiastically with a kindergartner about, well, whatever five year-olds find exciting, I guess._

Finally, she felt Kyla pushing on her arm and Gendry's voice. "Hey, Arya? Ya with us still?"

"Huh? What?" she said, startled out of her thoughts.

"I just said, it'll go a lot quicker if you would help Kyla with her other boot. That is, if you don't mind."

"No, no, I don't mind," Arya replied as she got down from the bench and knelt beside Gendry to help with Kyla's other boot. She purposefully left room between his right shoulder and her left.

_Seven bloody hells_ , Arya thought, _was I staring again? I need to get better at this or I'm going to start to be creepy. Damn him and his strong jaw and the way his arms fill out that polo._

They worked in silence as Arya took off the little girl's other boot and handed Gendry the measurement device when he needed it. He got up a minute later, old boots in hand, and came back quickly with a new pair for her to try. They both got to work undoing the straps and helping her get her foot into the smaller boots.

"Gendry, are you and Miss Arya friends?" Kyla asked out of nowhere, looking back and forth between the pair as they silently worked together.

_Oh, shit_ , Arya thought and she dared a glance over at Gendry. She guessed that the surprised look on his face was mirrored on hers, but she was fairly certain that the small smirk she saw was from his amusement at how the girl had taken to calling her 'Miss Arya.'

"Well, Kyla, I really don't know. I'm new here so I haven't had a chance to talk much with Miss Arya," Gendry replied, trying to hide the awkwardness with a smile. "Anyways, I think you're ready to rock, little lady."

Kyla quickly thanked Gendry and practically fell forward onto him for a hug. He stood up, her arms still wrapped around his neck and put her back down on the ground. She immediately grabbed a hold of Arya's hand. "Let's go, Miss Arya. Time is wasting!" she announced, pulling Arya towards the door. She followed behind her, looking back at Gendry, still standing in the same spot.

"Thank you!" she mouthed back to him, shrugging her shoulders and giving a small smile as if to say, _what am I supposed to do? I'm getting dragged around a five year old._ He laughed, same as he had the night before, and she saw him smile before he turned to walk towards where Meera was busy helping another guest return their rentals.

_Dammit_ , Arya, she said to herself. _You're practically dumbstruck when he looks at you and you got grossly sentimental watching him interact with random children. It just reminds you of playing with Bran and Rickon when they were little, that's all. Just keep telling yourself that. Definitely don't like him. Nope, definitely not._

The rest of the lesson was, thank the gods, less eventful than the first hour had been. The girl's enthusiasm came through in just about everything she did, reminding Arya of herself when she was first learning how to ski from Jon… albeit, less hugging strangers. They spent the next three hours that they had left making some laps on the easier runs coming down from the halfway point of Castle Black Peak, then around two o'clock the clouds when parted and gave way to a very sunny afternoon, Arya decided to take her up a bit higher for some steeper runs and see if she was able to challenge herself a bit and still remember everything that Arya was teaching her. She soaked all of it in, didn't back down from any challenges, and on the overall, was one of the more enjoyable lessons that Arya thought she'd ever given, even despite the boot mix-up and uncomfortable time at rentals.

Once she'd dropped Kyla back off with her parents at the meeting point and given them a progress report, along with some tips about boot fittings for the future, Arya quickly showered and changed into the extra set of street clothes she always kept in her ski locker in the employee locker rooms. She stopped back at the condo only for long enough to run inside, grab her guitar in its case, and run back out the door, slowing to a normal walking pace once she made it back to the sidewalk and started off away from the main village and towards Ned's apartment.

Ned was two years older than Arya, the same age as Sansa, and worked for Winterfell as a contract employee in their advertising department. While all of the print and more traditional advertisement work was contracted out through Baratheon's local office, Ned's family owned Star of Morning production company. Albeit a rather small production company in the grand scheme of things, mostly focused on those "quirky outcast boy meets flighty girl of his dreams and witty tongue-in-cheek courtship ensues" type of independent films, it had a small division mainly for sports and other action-packed documentaries. This was Ned's specialty. Unless he was on a business trip back to the Star of Morning headquarters in Dorne, there was not a day of the season that went by when Arya didn't see Ned out on the mountain filming, setting up shots, or escorting big name skiers and snowboarders around the resort. There was always a small film festival at Winterfell towards the end of the season sponsored by Ned's group, showcasing all the amateur footage that locals and visitors submitted throughout the year. It was one of the events that Arya looked forward to the most each season.

That wasn't how they'd met though. It was so much simpler than that. She'd been sitting in her photography class in tenth grade at the high school in Wintertown, mid-way through fall semester, when their teacher made the announcement that they would be welcoming Edric Dayne, a new transfer student from Starfall in Dorne, to the school and as well as that class. The only open seat was next to Arya and from that point on they were inseparable. She'd always been sort of a tomboy growing up, much more into playing sports, ski team in the winter, field hockey in the spring, camping in the Wolfswood with their Uncle Benjen, or just hanging out with Jon and Bran playing video games in the basement. At that point, never in a million years would Arya have believed someone if they had told her that Ned Dayne, with his pale blonde hair always falling into his almost navy blue eyes, that tan southern surfer look he had about him and all his stories about spending life on the beach back in Dorne, would eventually confess that he liked her. Sure, she had confidence in herself, the same that she still had now, but not _that_ kind of confidence. Not the kind of confidence that Sansa or Jeyne had with the guys at school. It hadn't mattered before then to her. She was a force to be reckoned with on the field hockey team and was generally pretty respected by the guys and most of the girls, except for the choice few that still remembered her 'horseface' nickname from middle school.

It was an easy walk to Ned's apartment, located just on the edge of the village before the main road linking Winterfell village and Wintertown. She arrived right around four-thirty like they'd agreed upon and they spent the next half hour or so until the pizza arrived catching up on how his last business trip to Dorne had been. She knew by heart how it was almost every time they hung out after they'd broken up and decided that while both of them were still wildly attracted to each other that it was better overall for both of them in the long run if they developed their friendship. _An oddly wise decision for a seventeen year old and a nineteen year old to make all on their own,_ Arya thought now as she sat in the large red beanbag chair in Ned's apartment, a plate in lap full of pizza and cheesy bread, looking over at the guy she once dated, tan from his time in Dorne and excitedly talking about his ideas for Starfall's next ski movie and the other projects the company was working on. Every time they met for practice it was always food first, a beer from the brewery in Wintertown, and then practice. Sometimes she wished that either of them had any talent for original lyrics or music composition, it'd be awesome to do something original.

"So," Arya started, reaching across the table and grabbing the last piece of cheesy bread from its box, "It's probably about time we got down to work and busted out a set list for tomorrow."

"Well, lucky for you, I've already started to make a list of songs we could do tonight," he said as he got up, grabbed a spiral notebook from his laptop bag, and passed her a list to her across the coffee table.

Arya sat there, working on finishing up her last piece of cheesy bread, eyes intently roaming over the spiral bound notebook, mumbling out her opinions. "Okay… okay… of course... what? No, dammit Ned," she swore, looking up at him.

"What? Those are all great choices."

"Like hell they are," she said, getting up and joining him on the couch. "You realize everyone still thinks we're having some secret affair, right? It'll only egg them on if we keep singing stuff like this. We Belong to the Night? Leather and Lace? Plus, ya know, it wouldn't hurt to update our playlist by, oh, I dunno, a few decades or so."

"I don't see the problem, Cat. We sound amazing together and our audiences love those songs."

_And there it was again – "Cat" – his old nickname from when they were together._ She'd gotten angry at first when he had called her that, and between her punches he was able to explain that he meant it to mean her cat-like reflexes and ability to sneak up on him, not a comparison to her mother.

"I dunno, maybe I don't want everyone to still think we're dating," she sheepishly, looking somewhere between her knees and the carpeted apartment floor in a shy, very un-Arya-like manner.

"Ohh, and why's that? I was only gone on that business trip back to Starfall for two weeks and you're already trying to replace me? You wound me, my dear." He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her towards him, all the while chuckling the same way he always had when he gave her a hard time on purpose.

"Oh, shut up, stupid!" she yelled, half joking, half seriously, as she turned to push him, trying to muster all the force she could while sitting. "I'm not replacing you. You're still my best friend, but gods forbid if I ever did want a boyfriend, all they'd have to do is see us perform and they'd be out the door running."

"No, no, something's changed. You were fine two weeks ago. Even always remarked that whatever chemistry we still had made for good, believable theatrics…" his voice trailed off as Arya sat up with a huff, grabbed the empty boxes and stalked off towards the kitchen. She'd left him there in his thoughts for a few moments while she threw away all the trash from their dinner.

After a minute or so of silence, she looked out of the kitchen and saw him sitting up on the couch, arm resting on the back, looking at her in the kitchen. "Your reluctance to sing these songs doesn't happen to have anything to do with a certain text that I received last night, that told me all about your dreamy new Southron friend with the internship at Baratheon, is it? I hear he's quite the charmer."

Arya stood in the kitchen, mouth gaping as she realized, _he's got me. Oh fuck, and I'm just standing here. You can do it, Arya, deny!_

Slamming her mouth closed, she ran into the living room, making a play to grab his cell phone out of his hand. "Who the hell told you about that?" she yelled.

He simply stood up off the couch and held his phone up in the air above her head. "Wait, so you don't deny it?"

"No, I don't deny there's a new guy from down south, but it's not like that… it's…. ugh. I don't know!" She tried to explain, climbing up on the couch to try and get a few feet of leverage to grab his phone.

_If that text was from Sansa, I'm going to kill her._

"Uh-uh. No phone for you, Arry. Our informant will remain anonymous for their own safety. I know what you'd do to them."

_I know him, he'll play this game all night long and we'll never practice. Why is it that after all these years there are just some people that I don't bother as hard to rebel against? Actually, no, scratch that. I'm blaming my lack of fight on a stomach full of pizza, soda, and cheesy bread. Yes, just keep telling yourself that._

"Fine. You win," she proclaimed, pushing her feet out from under her to land sitting on the couch. She watched Ned shove his phone back in his pocket and sit down next to her.

"So," he started, his tone much lighter and less joking than before, "do you want to talk about it? I know you're not here to gossip but you know I'll listen."

"I've pretty much tried to ignore him or rally against him so far and that hasn't seemed to work out so hot. Better to talk to you than Jeyne or my sister. At least I know you won't go tell everyone."

"Well, you are right on that one. So what happened?"

Once again, she explained the whole situation. Ned has been gone for two weeks and surprisingly hadn't heard about the collision or staff meeting scene that was practically legendary amongst the staff, but he just sat there patiently as he always did, listening to her and taking everything in before chiming in with this thoughts.

"… so and then, just when I thought he was going to ask me out, he actually asked me to teach him how to ski. Asked me to give him the free lesson they all get. Can you believe that? Gods damn nerve on that boy. And I really don't know why, but I just flipped my shit, Ned. Right there, right in front of everyone, yelled and then left him sitting there on the couch, like a puppy someone abandoned. Then I saw him earlier today at the rental shop and it was so awkward. I practically flew out of there with my student once Gendry was done."

"You thought he was going to ask you out and you were actually okay with that?"

"I think I was. I mean, it seemed like everything was going fucking fabulous at first. I was dead set not to like him, prepped for an argument… but he's the first guy I've meet since you that I was able to talk to that easily. Doesn't help that he's gorgeous, either, ya know."

"What do you think you'll do now? If he's friends with the rest of the group like you said, then you won't be able to avoid him, but with the way you talk about him it sounds like you don't really want to avoid him," Ned hinted, getting off the couch and retrieving two glasses and a growler of Arya's favorite stout from the local brewery back with him, setting both down on the table in front of them.

"Not completely sure what I'll do. Am I attracted to him? Hells yes. What do I want to do about that? No idea, but I'll figure it out. Figured you out, didn't I?"

"Hah, ya, I'd say you did, after a bit. Do you think he'll show up tomorrow night at Indigo?"

"No clue. He lives with Hot Pie and he mentioned at the party that he missed seeing me play, so maybe?" she said, pouring out a glass full of the dark beer for each of them.

"Well, I don't want to give your potential boyfriend any wrong ideas," he said, looking over at her as she stared at him with her "not fucking funny" look on her face. He took the notebook from her hands and crossed out all the songs she'd groaned at and said they could prep a few more fun ones just in case no one else signed up.

Smiling, she got up from the couch and grabbed her guitar case from where she'd leaned it against the wall.

"Alright, Dayne, I've had enough girl talk for the night. Let's get down to business."


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

**GENDRY WATERS**

**SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20**

It was a slow morning at the rentals office that Sunday with Meera. He was starting to get the hang of things and even had a couple of the other coworkers come to him for help calming down a few of the more wild or upset children. Most of the group homes he had been in growing up were filled with young, not-so-well-adjusted kids and so he had eventually learned the best ways to get their minds off whatever was bothering them and calm them down.

Around eleven-thirty, Meera motioned for Gendry to join her and help clean up the tuning shop and asked the rest of the workers to start on cleaning up the front of the rentals area. Most of the people that stayed at the resort were usually either arriving or leaving on Sundays, so the majority of the work that they would get would be rental returns in the morning or groups dropping off their equipment for tuning or sharpening in the evening at the last minute before they closed.

It had been nothing at all like the morning before. Thankfully after Arya's outburst he didn't end up staying at the party much longer, just another drink or two talking to people, trying to take his mind off of how something he thought would go so well could end up going so horribly wrong. _No one else really had too much of an idea either_ , he remembered. Most just chalked it up to Arya being Arya, stubborn, _not much unlike himself_ , he thought, with a wild streak and a temper that breaks easily. _Didn't have to tell me that part twice,_ he laughed to himself. Least of all, he'd never expected to see her less than twelve hours after the party walking into the rental office, but now he wasn't sure why he was so surprised. She gave multiple lessons almost every day by the sound of it, and it wasn't too far of an impossibility that every once in a while someone would have equipment problems. The resort was big, but not so big as to make running into her impossible. _Why did it have to be her, though? And gods, that kid she was teaching was awesome until that question about us. Although, the idea that she lets her students call her Miss Arya only makes me want a lesson more… though I'm pretty sure I couldn't say that with a straight face… or without her attempting to murder me._

Gendry had thought about that chance meeting with Arya yesterday for a while later on Saturday night once he was off work and had resigned himself to spending his first Saturday night in town not out with his new friends, but in front of his computer working on his latest assignment from Jaqen instead. Jeyne was a little disappointed sounding when he declined her invite to come out to Wintertown Brewery for dinner and a couple rounds of drinks with her, Hot Pie, and Theon, but after meeting with Jaqen on Friday and receiving his next assignment he knew he'd need some more time.

_He was absolutely beside himself on Friday when he had met with Jaqen and explained to him his goal that he'd only thought up minutes earlier in the front entryway. He followed a few paces behind Jaqen to one of the small group meeting rooms, catching the eyes of Missandei and Pod as he passed by their workstations and got approving smiles from each of them._

_He took his time, explained to Jaqen a bit more about himself, how he was raised and better yet, how he wasn't raised, all leading up to his explanation. Jaqen seemed to be a man of few words, but surely he could appreciate good reasoning._

_"That's why I decided," he explained, coming to the end of what he had planned in the last few minutes, "that the best purpose and target to have for this whole experience is to prove to myself that I can do this. I'm not here to impress my parents, haven't got any anymore, and I'm certainly not here to impress the other interns. I want to impress myself, prove to myself that whatever happened in the past is past and won't affect the way my future turns out as long as I don't let it."_

_"Has a man explained himself thoroughly?" Jaqen asked, not showing any hints of accepting or hating the reason_.

_"Almost. I've got one last goal that I'm shooting for, sir, and that is the fact that in four months time, one of the Baratheon CEOs will be announcing my name at the awards ceremony and there'll soon be a picture of me hanging up in the lobby for future interns to look at, just as I did today." Half satisfied with himself, half trying desperately to not show any amount of weakness or self-doubt in from of his mentor, Gendry folded his hands in his lap and waited patiently for Jaqen to say something, anything really._

_A few awkwardly long seconds passed before Jaqen started to speak._

_"A man sees great potential in you, Gendry Waters. It is not a small thing to come from nothing, a man knows much of this himself. You have made much of very little so far, it is no wonder you are here. The goal is admirable, not only that, it is achievable, if the work in your portfolio is any indication. Now, for a new test…"_

He had stuck around the Baratheon office for most of the afternoon on Friday, taking advantage of a quiet work spot, huge monitors, fast computers, and binders upon binders of ski and snowboard designs from when the company started thirty years ago up to last year's designs. The assignment Jaqen gave him was to find five previous Baratheon ski design, each having been from the first fifteen years of operation, and update the designs based on the recent popular style trends. Not exactly the type of assignment that he had thought Jaqen would give, but he was very happy for it. It allowed him some actual creative outlet and the ability to do what he liked best, actually design new and show what he had in him.

He had until Tuesday at noon to turn in his five designs and he found himself eagerly eying all of the equipment that guests were bringing in for service. All of the rental skis were Baratheon designs but they were all plain grey or black skis with red tips. He was happy to help work on the in-take for the tuning shop since it gave him time to study lots of different skis and see what designs were actually popular, not just what was presented in the Baratheon product guides, which of course didn't include any of the competitor equipment.

Meera got to work on checking that all the skis and snowboards to be picked up that afternoon were finished and accounted for while Gendry busied himself reorganizing everything they'd used that morning. A few minutes later, he heard something buzz followed by a loud ringtone and saw Meera immediately pull out her phone, grin, and start frantically texting whoever it was. He watched for a second and then got back to working on cleaning up the tuning shop, knowing it was none of his business who she was talking to. It was one of the cardinal rules that Meera had instilled upon him, always leave the shop looking as clean as it was when you got there. _Just like hiking or camping_ , she'd said, _Or do you Southerners not do that either?_ There was a lot of specialized equipment and tools and not being able to find what you needed could have someone spending the majority of their shift searching instead of working.

"That was Bran," Meera mentioned out of nowhere, tossing her phone over onto the counter. "He's going to come here and hang out for a while until my shift is done and then we're gonna go grab some lunch after. You're welcome to come with if you don't have any other plans."

"Are you sure? I really don't want to end up being third wheel on your lunch date."

She looked over at Gendry and smiled widely. "It's not really like that."

"Hah, are you certain about that?" Gendry asked. "It seemed pretty 'like that' the other night."

"It's… complicated," Meera said, sliding her stack of paperwork over to where her phone had landed, then walking over and plopping down on the old couch. "We've known each other practically forever. This is my first full season here, but I worked part-time during the past two winters and the summers as well, and my father and Ned Stark have been friends for a long time, since they were younger than us. When we were little and still lived down in Greywater, my younger brother Jojen - he's Bran's age - and I would come up every winter vacation to ski and stay in the old Stark house. At first I just thought it was cute, ya know? A harmless little crush that Bran had on his friend's older sister, nothing out of the ordinary. But last winter, Jojen got sick and couldn't come up to Winterfell for vacation. Arya and I get along well enough but she was busy teaching lessons most days so it was just Bran and I a lot of the time and…well I think I realized then that I'd started to feel the same way. It just happened. I'm not really sure what our "title" is," she explained, pausing to make air quotes with her hands, "but it doesn't matter to either of us."

"Aww, Meera, you're blushing," Gendry teased, not really sure if he had intended on getting himself into this sort of conversation with Meera. "Really though, I'm not judging, I was just a little curious. I think it's awesome you've got someone that you connect with like that. I wish I could find that…" he said, partially under his breath but apparently not softly enough.

"Oh, gosh, Gendry, whoever could you be referring to?" Meera said, pulling herself up and out of the old couch and walking back over to where she had dropped her paperwork a few minutes earlier. "We all saw you and Arya on Friday night. You were getting along so well before she exploded at you. Maybe Bran'll have some advice for you when he gets here, but first we've gotta keep on getting this place cleaned up. I'm surprised at how it got so out of hand this morning."

It was around noon when Bran made his way to the shop and the conversation quickly turned to Arya again.

"I don't think it's about impressing Arya, She's not going to be impressed if you just try and woo her…" Meera said as she flipped through a large stack of work order request forms that the next shift had to work on, organizing them based on the day of the week that people needed their equipment returned to them. She looked bored out of her mind now that the room was in order. "But maybe just putting yourself out there would work. Give yourself a bit of a taste of the embarrassment she felt."

"It was really that bad?" he asked, leaning against the workbench and slowly re-organizing all the different kinds of wax that the late night crew had used for their jobs.

He saw Bran catch Meera's attention and give her a look and a smile that told him that yes, yes it was as bad as that.

"Listen, Gendry," Bran started. "I know you don't know her very well yet. Arya's always had to be the tough one. It doesn't matter if she was already running late to the greeting, that little collision you two had was what made her late in her mind and like it or not, she blames you for embarrassing her and getting her in trouble with our mom. I agree with Meera," he said, trying not to blush as she smiled back down at him. "Maybe you just need to put yourself out there, embarrass yourself in public a bit to make it up to her. From what I saw, you two were getting along great until you went and asked her for a favor not a second after your apology. I bet she thinks you owe her, not the other way around."

Meera put down the papers she was going through and walked around the island counter to where Gendry was standing, then pushed herself up to sit down on the counter, making her close to eye level with Gendry. "This might sound weird, but trust me here. Have you ever seen Ten Things I Hate About You?"

"You mean that old movie with Heath Ledger and that guy who was in Inception? Yea, of course I have, years ago, but what does that have to do with this?"

"Well, for starters, when the bristly Julia Stiles, aka our dear Arry, wants nothing to do with Heath Ledger, the handsome stranger from out of town, after a party," Meera said with a big grin, pointing to Gendry. "He puts himself out there in front of a bunch of people by singing to her and she finally gives him a chance." She folded her arms across her chest, looking very satisfied with her teen movie comparison.

"That might have worked for him, but what am I supposed to do? Serenading Arya while she's teaching five year olds how to ski doesn't seem like a great idea. Plus, I'm not even a great singer."

"That's the point, you're not supposed to be great at it. Look, you're not trying to ask her to wear your cloak and marry you in the Wintertown sept, right?" Bran asked, and Gendry shook his head no. "Right. I've never seen her let a guy cozy up to her like she let you on Friday, at least not since she was dating Ned, even if it was just sitting and talking, the body language was there. Now we just need her to forgive you and give you a ski lesson, that's all. She's stubborn, that's for sure, but I think she'll come around if we put a little effort in."

"It'll definitely work, Gendry. Not just in that movie either," Meera continued, trying to drive her point home. "It worked in Say Anything and in Top Gun too."

"Alright, I'm in." _What the hell_ , Gendry thought. _It can't be that bad and it might even be a bit of fun. But when? I don't want to wait forever…_ but then, as soon as he thought that, he had it. "Did I hear Arya tell Hot Pie that there's an open mic night on Mondays? Do you think she'll be there tomorrow?"

"She wouldn't miss it," Meera replied. "She's there every Monday at seven-thirty, sometimes by herself, sometimes with one of her friends, but she'll for sure be there… right, Bran?"

"She will, she hardly ever misses it. Some of our friends come almost each week and our brother Jon will be there, he's there every week too, like clockwork. Ever since he moved out Arya has taken every chance she gets to see him. She'll be there - and so will you."

"Perfect. It's settled. Monday night," Gendry confirmed.

With a little less than a half hour until the next shift started, the passed their time with Gendry finishing up the tasks for the end of the shift and Meera writing up her daily report to her boss and the next supervisor about how the morning went, but mostly the three of them were talking more about how they were going to pull off his plan.

"You don't have to go in to Baratheon today, do you Gendry?" Meera asked once their shift was over.

"Nope, not on Sundays, which is good since I haven't got a long time to figure out what I'll do about tomorrow's performance and I have no clue where to begin. With my luck I'll sing some song that brings back awful memories or some stupid radio hit that she can't stand."

"Well," she started, "Bran and I were just going to get lunch, hang out at my apartment, and catch up on some TV shows that I tape for the both of us, but I was thinking that you should come with us and we can spend the rest of the day practicing. I can't play guitar like Arya can, but I took piano for years and I've got my keyboard at home. It's got one of those portable stands so I can even bring it in to the coffee shop and play along with you tomorrow, that is, if that's cool with you."

"Really?" Gendry asked, looking at both Bran and Meera as they nodded in affirmation. "That's really cool of you. I'd probably be sitting at home all day getting suggestions from Hot Pie if it weren't for you."

The workers for the next shift came in and Meera, Bran, Gendry, and the four or so other workers all made their way out of the building to head their separate ways. On their way to Meera's apartment they stopped once again at Crown Deli to pick up the order of sandwiches that Bran had called in a half hour or so ago, and then headed back to Meera's apartment. It was a short walk to her place, which turned out to be a good-sized complex that was about fifty-percent condos or timeshares and fifty-percent apartments. There was a circular driveway in the front with a large overhang for dropping people off, much like you'd see at a hotel, and staying in line with almost all of the buildings in the village the was an underground parking entrance as well. Space was limited in the small valley between the three peaks of Winterfell and the other rockier, more craggy looking mountains that weren't so suited to skiing on the other side, so the only areas that actually had regular parking were some of the day-by-day guest parking lots and the single-family houses that dotted the lower half of the mountains.

They walked up to the new-looking building, a clean and white six-story mid-rise, each story getting slightly smaller and using part of the roof of the one below it as a patio or shared open space, and were greeted by an amazingly lavish lobby area and a young man in a suit very similar to the type that Gendry noted was very similar to the style he wore when he worked valet in downtown Kings Landing. The man nodded at Meera in greeting and smiled as he handed her a bundle of mail from behind the counter.

"Thank you, Kevin," she said, returning the smile at the man she was obviously familiar with as she tucked her mail under her arm. "I know what you're thinking, Gendry. Probably that the Starks need to up your pay if I'm able to afford to live in an apartment like this, right?" Meera asked when she saw the astonished look on Gendry's face that he was trying to hide. She swiped her key card in front of the glass door to the left of the front desk and held it open for Bran and Gendry.

"You've got that right. Meera, this place has a front desk with a reception counter for gods' sake! Now that you mention it, maybe tomorrow would be a good time to walk to Mr. Marsh about an advanced pay raise…" he replied jokingly, though there was a part in his mind that was definitely serious.

"Don't worry, Gendry. I'm pretty sure you're not getting shafted on your pay, right Meera?" Bran added, reaching out to press the up button for the elevators.

"You're not. The Stark's are really good about paying everyone a wage they can actually live off of, and besides," she said, pausing a second as the elevator doors opened, "whether I want them to or not, my parents are paying for the majority of my apartment. Believe me, it certainly doesn't suck to live in a place like this, but if I had to pay for it myself, I'd be over in a shitty little hole-in-the-wall in Wintertown with Jon and Gritte. But, mom and dad wanted a nice place for Jojen and them to stay when they come to visit, so this is what I've got now."

The elevator stopped at the fifth floor and he followed Meera and Bran to the right and down to the end of the hallway. The apartment was about the size he'd expected after Meera had said her parents picked it out so they could stay there as well. There were two bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, a bright and airy open kitchen, and a living and dining room that were separate from each other. Aside from the size and the brand new appliances in the kitchen, the rest of what he saw of the apartment was decorated, well, pretty much like you would expect for an eighteen year old college freshman. It wasn't messy, but it was definitely lived in and Gendry could tell where the study spots were by the groupings of empty coffee mugs on the kitchen table and living room coffee table, as well as the spread out environmental science and conservation textbooks, notebooks, and binders. Her walls were covered in mostly old movie posters or band posters, the majority of them the girl plus guitar variety, which he thought suited her personality and there was a large Direwolves Football Club flag on the wall behind the couch.

"It's big, I'll give ya that," Gendry said, helping her dole out the sandwiches and sides they'd bought, "I don't think I want an apartment this size, but it still feels cozy. I like it."

"Thanks, Gen. I actually told my mom that I couldn't take any more of their money to furnish this place. We don't have the money like a lot of families have that stay up here all the time, so I worked practically day in and day out all last summer when I was up here, trying to save up money to even just buy all this IKEA stuff from White Harbor."

"She really did," Bran chimed in. "I've never seen anybody give more hiking tours or nature lessons than Meera did last summer. It was worth it though, this place is awesome."

"Alright, enough about the apartment… do we have any idea of what sort of song to pick for Arya? Bran, you're probably the best authority on that," Meera said, grabbing her plate and joining the rest of them around the table in the living room. She set her plate down then grabbed the four or five empty coffee mugs from the table and hurried back to the kitchen with them.

"Not sure off the top of my head, but I've got a good idea of how to figure this out," he started. "Can you grab my backpack, Meera? I think I dropped it by the front door when we came in."

She picked up his backpack on her way back from the kitchen and passed it over to Bran before taking her spot on the couch with Gendry. They both watched him rummage through his backpack intently and finally pull out a pad of paper, mechanical pencil, and what looked like a brand new MacBook covered in stickers.

"Just gonna open up your iTunes account and press random then?" Gendry asked. "It's a bit ballsy and might not work out the best in the end, but I could get behind it."

"Always an option, but with your luck you'd end up on a dubstep track with no lyrics. We can do better than that," he said and turned the laptop around and passed it over to Gendry. "We share an iTunes account, or at least we used to until a couple months ago when mom got Arya a new laptop for graduation. I sorted by most played tracks so we can see what she listens to the most and pick from there. I figure all we have to do is filter out what songs you clearly shouldn't sing to her and we'll be good to go."

They quickly finished eating their sandwiches and got to work on going through Arya's most played songs and creating a list, narrowing it down, listening to songs, and then narrowing it down some more. Meera grabbed her laptop from her room and busied herself with checking online for the sheet music that went along with each song and helping decide which would work out well for the keyboard.

For the most part, Gendry didn't mind one bit getting to browse through Arya's music collection. It started to give him a good idea of the type of personality she had, even just based on the albums she had and different singers and bands she'd listened to on repeat. The majority were all bands he had heard of and liked, with only a few he had no clue about, a few he absolutely hated, but there was a good amount of what he recognized that he knew he had the same albums already downloaded and ready to go on the phone in his pocket. There was a good amount of classic rock, Led Zeppelin, of course, not surprising him at all, some David Bowie, and a lot of Fleetwood Mac, which was also no surprise after watching her play on Friday night. The majority was twenty or thirty year old rock or punk rock, The Smiths, Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Black Flag, and Social Distortion, and Gendry found himself quickly transported back to one of his group homes from junior high and memories of sitting in the garage listening to Sonic Youth while one of the older boys tried his hardest to fix up their beater car.

After about an hour they had finally settled on a song that Gendry believed he already knew well enough to sing and was also not too difficult for Meera to learn to play in the next twenty-four hours.

It was around nine pm, after hours of practicing and a large order of Volantene takeout from Triarchs later when they finally decided that Meera and Gendry sounded as good as they'd get by tomorrow evening and declared the practice a success.

"Alright, guys, I think we're about good for the night," Bran announced, packing up his laptop into is backpack and putting it around the back of his wheelchair. "Gendry, Meera's gonna drop me back off at home, but it'd be a good idea if you stopped by Indigo tonight before it closes and get yourself signed up."

"He's right," Meera said, smiling at Bran, grabbing her coat along with both of theirs. "There usually aren't other people signed up for open mic night unless they're Arya's friends, especially this early in the season, but you don't want to take any chances on your big day. I'll pass by the main village on the way to the Stark's condo, I'll drop you off."

She handed Bran and Meera their coats and they made their way to the elevator down the hall to find Meera's car in the underground garage. It only took a few minutes for Meera to drive Gendry to the entrance of the main village, which Gendry quickly realized was dead empty. The only shops left open were some restaurants, a few bars, and Indigo. The coffee shop still had a good number of people inside and a few sitting in the outside seating around by a small fire pit, most hunched over laptops or stacks of books. _Finals coming soon_ , he thought to himself, not jealous in the least bit. He made his way inside, not completely sure of how sign up, but decided that waiting in line at the counter was as good of an idea as anything else.

A few moments later, a young girl with very short, very light blonde hair came back to the counter from behind the Employees Only door, arms full of new syrup containers and full cartons of milk. Her bangs were pulled back by a headband with a large red flower and she wore a black t-shirt with the Indigo name and large sailboat logo on it.

"Hey there, what can I get for ya?" she asked cheerfully, as she started to put things away.

"Well, I know I'm gonna get a drink," he started, "But first I wanted to know how I sign up for a spot at the open mic night tomorrow. I'm new here so I guess I'm not sure where the sign-up sheet is... or if it's actually that organized in the first place."

She turned around and grabbed a clipboard that was hanging on a small brass hook on the wall behind the cash register. "Here ya go," she said, handing the clipboard over to him across the counter. He was surprised when he looked down and noticed that the sign-up sheet was just a couple pages of computer paper full of blank lines, with Arya Stark typed in permanently in the top spot. "So, what kinda drink can I get for the new guy in town?"

"Largest mocha you've got," he said, not even stopping to think. "So, is she really the only person signed up so far?"

"Yea, just Arya. She's sort of our regular. Even got some townies that come to see her each Monday. She loves the attention," the barista said, and saw Gendry raise his eyebrows in disbelief. "Oh, she'll tell ya she don't play for the recognition, but don't you believe her for one second. Not to worry though, she's real good 'bout other people signing up. She'll give you as much time as ya like," she assured him as she worked on his drink, speaking a little bit louder so he could hear her over the noise of the milk steamer.

"Well, she can play as much as she wants," he replied as she set his drink down on the counter in front of him. "All I need is one song."

He quickly signed his name on the line below hers, paid for his mocha, and started on the walk back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait for these past two chapters! Life happens, I guess. I've got the next chapter already in progress so hopefully I can have it soon. My in-laws will be over all weekend so we'll see. The next chapter will be split between a Bran POV and Arya POV, most likely heavier on the Arya side but I do like putting other viewpoints in there too.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

**ARYA STARK**

**MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21**

After the lesson with Kyla, her over-sized boots, and an awkward ten minutes with Gendry on Saturday, Arya had thought that there was no way that Sunday could be any more eventful, but unfortunately for her she was wrong. She normally tried to avoid shifts on Sundays as much as possible, if only to give her some sort of a break to regain her sanity, but as of late she'd been preoccupied with the thought of one day actually moving out of the condo and into an apartment of her own, so she had started to pick up Sunday lessons when she could or when instructors wanted to cancel or switch shifts. Usually Sundays were pretty slow, but not yesterday. She found out mid-way through the day, after a morning of beginner group lessons full of twelve year olds, that the school district in Last Hearth had Monday off for school for some godsforsaken reason, and so a lot of parents were taking advantage of the long weekend to come skiing. Good news for her father, Robb, and their budgetary numbers, bad news for Arya. Luckily her day was without any mishaps like sick children, but it was busy and stressful. _Nothing like groups of twelve-year old boys who think they know everything to ensure the perfect end to the weekend with_ , Arya thought, seriously happy to have only one lesson scheduled today, which was already finished. _Makes me wonder how I got through middle school without hurting one of them… oh wait_ , she remembered, _I didn't._

She parted with the two girls she was teaching, two twenty-somethings on holiday from the Eyrie looking for advanced lessons, which Arya was more than happy to sign up for when she saw it on the schedule list on Saturday. Normally she would drop off her intermediate or advanced students at the meeting point near top of the Castle Black gondola, but being that these two were at the end of the day and they were far more than capable of skiing down the rest of the way and not climbing back in the gondola, Arya was actually happy for the company on her run back down the mountain. They went their separate ways and Arya headed towards the staff lockers on the other side of the village to drop off her skis and grab her backpack before walking the rest of the way to the condo.

Even having to live in the condo was still somewhat an area of contention for Arya. They'd bought the condo about five or so years ago after her parents, _or maybe just mom_ , she thought to herself, had decided that they no longer wanted to live in the old Stark Estate built into the side of the mountain. Arya knew it was silly to be so attached to a large drafty old house, but it was filled with memories. Not just hers, but her brothers' and sister's memories, as well as her father and his siblings, and his father and grandfather before him. It was a large monstrosity of a house, built by hand out of stone from mountain and different varieties of hardwood trees from the surrounding forests years upon years ago by Edwyle Stark, the same one that started Winterfell Resort and named the three peaks. Inside it was a cross between a turn-of-the-century estate house and a hunting lodge, there were large hearths in each room, dark hardwood floors covered with soft rugs, and huge rooms for her and her siblings to play in when they were younger.

They still owned the house, that was certain, except now it was less of a living space for their family and was used more or less like hall for special occasions. The large New Year's party that her family threw each year was held there, as well as the end of the year reception for Baratheon Snow, but a handful of visits never seemed to be enough tide her over for the year and often Arya would find herself in the hallway of their new home, fingering the large keyring that would let her back into the Stark Estate. A couple of times when her mom would accompany her father out of town overnight on business, she was able to convince Jon, Ygritte, Meera, Bran, and some of their other friends to gather up their sleeping bags and they'd take the keys, camp out in front of the largest hearth in the great hall, and spend the whole night listening to Jon or Arya play guitar, or telling jokes, or remembering stories from when they were younger, laughing about how each time a particular story was retold it only became more and more exaggerated than the last time.

She got back to the condo just in time to see Bran gathering his hat and coat from the hall closet.

"Hey, where are you headed off to?" she asked, taking the hanger he'd taken his coat off of and hanging hers up on it in the closet.

"Just the usual. Got back from school a couple hours ago, finished my homework, and now I'm going to meet up with Meera at work and hang around there until her shifts ends," Bran replied. Arya could tell he was trying not to catch her right in the eye.

"Oooh, hanging out with Miss Reed again I see. What do mom and dad think about your older girlfriend?" she asked teasingly, which immediately put Bran into the usual defense mode he went into whenever anyone brought up his relationship with Meera.

"She's not my girlfriend, Arya, and you know that."

"Mmhmm. Whatever you say, kid, whatever you say. You sure wish she was your girlfriend though, and you certainly act like she is. No matter though, I just enjoy giving you a hard time," she said, and went to work ruffling up his hair the way Jon used to do to her when she was a lot younger. She cleared off the pile of hats and shoes on the bench in the hall, no doubt left by Rickon this morning on his way to the school bus, and sat down, now almost eye level with Bran. "Really though, any plans for the evening?"

"Well, since Meera is off work at seven we planned on coming to watch you at open mic night this evening, if you don't mind."

"No, of course I don't mind," Arya replied, which was the truth. Her weekly performances were something she always looked forward to. Between tiring or stressful lessons and whatever else she had to deal with at home with her mom, the times she got to perform were a gods-sent respite and gave her a way to at least get her feeling out, even if she was doing so with other peoples' words. "You might as well see who else wants to come tonight. I think that Hot Pie might show up with Jeyne and Sansa, since he seemed so interested at Jon's party and all. Oh, and Jon and Ygritte will be there too.

"Awesome, almost everyone. I'll see you there then. Hope you've got some good songs picked out for tonight."

"Oh, I always do. Are you sure you don't want to wait until seven? Ned's picking me up on his way off work since he's going to join me for most of the songs tonight. We ended up practicing last night and I actually got him to say 'yes' to revamping some of our playlist."

"No, that's okay, I told Meera I'd meet her and we'd go together."

"She works with that new guy Gendry, doesn't she?" Arya asked, already knowing the answer but asking anyways.

"Yea," he answered, nodding yes as he finished putting his gloves and hat on. "He might be there too, not really sure though. You don't mind, do you? I know you were arguing with him at the party the other night."

"It's a free world, Bran. I can't stop him from going to Indigo. He can show up if he wants to but he better not ask me to hang out or give him a lesson or whatever the hell he wanted on Friday."

She saw the frustrated look on Bran's face, that look he got when he didn't want to get into whatever drama or argument was happening, that look he mostly only gave her when she tried to get him to side with her during arguments with Sansa.

"I'm not trying to argue with you. Just go to open mic and enjoy yourself. Now, if you'll let me, I've still got to meet Meera at the shop and then we'll be around later to see you at Indigo, okay?"

"Yea, yea," Arya replied, getting up off the bench to open the door for him. "You get outta here. I'll see you later." She closed the front door behind him, then finished taking off her boots and walked into the kitchen, looking to see who else was home at this time in the afternoon. She was not surprised to be unable to find her father, who normally didn't make it back from the office until just before dinner, but it was a little weird to see her mother sitting at the kitchen table huddled over a large binder, magazines spread out all around her.

"Oh, sweetie, I didn't hear you come in. Bran just left a few minutes ago to go see Meera and Rickon's homeroom teacher called and they're making him stay late for detention again today," Catelyn said, looking up from whatever she was working on and taking a drink from the large coffee mug she had next to her.

"Yea, I saw Bran in the hallway. I came in the front door so you probably didn't hear me." Arya walked a little bit closer until she could see what her mother was working on. "What's all that on the table? Bring home some work?"

"Your father called this morning to tell me that when he got to work Robb told him that Jeyne and him had finally set a date for the wedding… then a half hour later once I saw Jeyne at the office she said the same thing and asked for my help. Her own mother is so far away and I just can't say no to that girl."

"Oh, well, I guess that's good then. They've been engaged for ages so it's about damn time they just go through with it, right?" Arya said, trying her best to make cordial conversation with her mother. _I wish I knew why this was so difficult,_ she thought. _Why I have to make such an effort… why we both have to try this hard. I talked for hours today with two girls that I'd never met and it was easier. She's not even saying anything off-putting or condescending and I still have all these urges to be snotty with her._

"Oh yes, just amazing." She heard the slight amount of sarcasm in her mother's tone as she started thumbing through the binder again, thankfully this time not directed towards her, which was what surprised her the most. "It's so exciting and all, they couldn't wait to get married all of a sudden. Just had to pick a date only three months away. Better clear your calendar for February 18th,, Arya, and hope we can get all this planning done by then."

"Sorry, mom," _Oh, crap… what to say, what to say?_ "I guess it's good that you're the head of special events then, eh? I'm sure you can make it work," she said with a smile as Catelyn looked at her.

"Thanks, Arya. That's very nice of you to say," her mother answered, looking up from the large binder and spread of wedding magazines. "Will you be here for dinner tonight? I'll let Nan know."

"Yea, that'd be great. I just got off work so I'm gonna grab a shower before anyone else gets home."

Catelyn just nodded and Arya gladly headed upstairs, happy to pull herself away from a tense conversation but a little relieved still that for once she was not the object of her mother's stress, but she wasn't quite sure of exactly what to say to try and make her feel better about the wedding timing. She heard the door between the laundry room and the garage slam shut just as she turned the shower off, left her hair to dry on its own, and pulled on a tank top and a pair of old sweats with Wintertown HS Field Hockey down the leg. The laundry room was right below her bathroom so it was easy to hear the voices of her father and Rickon coming inside, her father's calm yet stern voice explaining to Rickon that he'd have to explain to his mother what he had done after dinner was over. She figured her father had been out to the school in Wintertown and back already to pick up Rickon from his detention.

After what turned out to be a surprisingly calm dinner with Rickon, her mother and father, and Nan, Arya heard the doorbell ring almost exactly as the clock in the dining room chimed for six forty-five.

"That's gotta be Ned," Arya announced as she dropped her empty dinner plate and glass off in the kitchen. "He's back in town and is going to join me at Indigo for open mic night tonight."

"Oh, is that tonight?" she heard Catelyn ask on her way back into the dining room and toward the foyer.

"Yea, mom. Every Monday night for, oh, last two years or so I'd say," she replied, her voice trying to cover up the small bit of frustration she felt from her mother clearly not paying attention to her life. She watched as her father gave Catelyn a pointed look, one that clearly said "you should know that by now," and then, satisfied, she picked up her pace towards the door and let Ned in.

"Hey, hope you weren't standing out there too long," she said. "We just got done with dinner so I'm gonna run upstairs, make sure I've got everything, and then we can get outta here, 'kay?"

"No problem, Arry. You mind if I head into the kitchen? It's been a while since I've had a chance to see your parents and when I was back in Dorne my uncle said to make sure I gave his regards next time I was here." He pulled the guitar case off his back, setting it down against the bench in the foyer,

"Shit, I don't care. Mom and dad are both in there and I'm sure they'd love to see you, mom especially. She loves how proper you are for them, actually giving your regards and everything," she replied, purposefully in a mocking tone, only earning her a sideways glance from Ned. "Who actually gives their regards these days, anyways?"

In a second and without any notice, she found his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side as they walked towards the kitchen. "Oh, Cat," he said in a slightly sing-song voice, looking down at her through the bright blonde hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. "I'm proper for everyone. Perhaps that's what makes them like me so much."

"Just shut up and get your arm off me. Mom'll be practically getting the save-the-dates ready if we walk in there like this and you damn well know it too." He laughed at the idea of that and brought his arm back, shoving both hands into the large front pocket of his purple Sword of Morning hoodie as they turned the corner into the kitchen.

"Mom, Dad, Ned's here to take me to open mic night. I'm gonna leave him here in the kitchen with you while I change and get my things." Her parents both nodded and she saw Ned pulling out a chair and sitting down at the table with them out of the corner of her eye as she ran up back out into the foyer and up the staircase to her room.

 _I don't know why he does this_ , Arya thought, padding up the stairs to her room. _I really think he just likes to see if he can get to me, probably since he knows I won't punch the daylights outta him like I would for most others. Gods damn me and my still caring about that boy._

She quickly found her guitar propped up against her dresser, luckily right where she had left it the night before after practicing some more, opened up the hard case on her bed and gingerly set it inside. It wasn't anything expensive, but along with her skis she took care of that guitar like it was her child. After she was satisfied that the case was securely closed she changed into jeans, a dark green t-shirt, and taking her cue from Ned, pulled on a hoodie instead of grabbing her big coat. _It must not be too cold outside if Ned's able to walk around in just that._ She picked up the small gray and black canvas shoulder bag that Ygritte had gotten her for her birthday last year, and guitar case in hand, went back downstairs to save her friend from whatever torturous conversation her parents were subjecting him too. It was never as bad as she thought it would be when she got down there and Arya always sort of wished that her mother would take the time to grill her about her interests like she did with Ned or her other friends. _She always wants to know how Ned's latest ski movie is going, or what sort of new Sword of Morning production his uncle's studio is working on next. Hell, she even talks with Meera about her classes, as if Catelyn Stark really gives a shit about algae or lizards or whatever conservation class Meera's got herself signed up for at UWW._

"Edric, dear, you've got to make sure you're careful with all your traveling," she heard her mother say when she got about halfway down the stairs. "All that back and forth nonsense between here and Dorne is sure to make you sick, what with the weather changes and all."

"Oh, I'm plenty careful, Mrs. Stark. Uncle Arthur always makes sure I'm in fighting shape when I come down to visit and I don't think a week goes by when he's not called me every day."

"Well, I guess that's just how your business goes. It is quite impressive that you've managed so much when you've only been out of Wintertown High for two years."

 _Seven bloody hells_ , Arya thought, _not the usual "that Edric Dayne boy is so accomplished" spiel again. Time to break this party up before it gets too out of control._

"Alright, all ready to go now," Arya cleared her throat and said, coming back into the kitchen. She watched Ned smile at her mom as he got up from the table.

"You know what, Arry?" Her father said out of nowhere, getting her attention. "I think I'm coming to watch you tonight too."

An awkward, almost pained look crossed Catelyn's face once her husband announced that. "Ned, dear, are you sure that's a good idea? You did say how much more work you've got to get done tonight," she said, resting her hand on top of his on the table.

"Nonsense, Cat," he quickly replied. "It's been way too long since I've taken a break on a week night and even longer since I've seen Arya and Ned perform. Why don't we let Robb be on call for one night, it'll show him what it's really like to captain this ship."

Ned Stark smiled as he watched his youngest daughter's eyes light up. "Really, Dad? You mean it? You'll actually stop by Indigo tonight?"

"You betcha, kid. I'll be there the whole time."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she yelled loudly setting her guitar case down on the dining room floor and hurrying over to the other side of the table to give her dad a hug. "I'll see you later, Ned and I've gotta show up a bit early for set up."

He nodded as Arya released him from her hold and grabbed the guitar off the floor and linked her arm in Ned's, pulling him from the kitchen and out into the foyer to leave. She watched Ned's face as he tried not to laugh at her as they started their short walk to the village. She knew he thought she was off her rocker, getting this excited about her dad showing up to open mic night, but with how busy he normally is with the day-to-day operations of the resort and trying to teach Robb how to do the same, she was truly at a loss for words when he'd agreed to go. _Maybe he'll finally be able to spend some more time with all of us now that it seems like Robb is ready to take on a few more responsibilities. He did graduate from UWW already, so I guess it is about time he starts to learn the ropes for real._

They arrived at Indigo Star about five minutes later, still early for open mic night but it'd give them enough time to set up the stage area they way they liked it and take a few minutes to chat with a couple of the baristas. She knew Ned would make a point to catch up with that one Angela girl, the cute one with the short blonde hair that matches his own. _Maybe he'll actually have a chance now that we've cut most of the sappy shit out of our set list,_ she thought to herself, laughing at the idea of Ned trying out his best lines at the girl behind the counter.

"What's so funny?"

_Shit. Maybe I wasn't quite laughing as internally as I'd intended to._

"Nothing really, just thought of something that happened earlier today," she quickly lied. She knew right away that Ned had realized her little white lie, but she also knew that he wouldn't care enough to press her about it.

There were about ten people scattered around the coffee shop when they arrived, and the next time Arya looked up to take stock of the crowd, she was surprised to see practically all of the seats near the little stage area already taken. _Must be a slow night in Winterfell if me and Ned are able to get this good of a turn-out_ , she thought. _Not just good though, this is a proper fucking crowd. Probably the best I've ever seen._ She glances over at Ned as he sat on the edge of the stage, finishing fixing a string on his guitar and once she caught his eye, she knew he was thinking the same thing.

Looking around the seating area, she saw most everyone she expected to see, Jon, Ygritte, Sam, Gilly, Hot Pie, and Jeyne and Theon, basically all of the regulars, all sitting together off to stage left, a couple of small round tables pushed together and crowded with pastries and drinks. She hadn't seen her dad come in, but there he was, in the front off to the right, sitting at a table with Sansa and Sandor, which was the first huge shock to Arya. Sansa only came every so often when Jeyne wanted to and she couldn't remember the last time that Sandor had shown up at Indigo for anything other than their legendary breakfast sandwiches. A few tables over, right there in the center, sat Bran, Meera, and Gendry. He looked away from his conversation with Bran and Meera at the exact right moment to find Arya looking his way, but this time instead of giving her that deep gaze that seemed to always make her heart jump out of her chest, he just smiled and nodded, acknowledging her, before turning back to the conversation at hand. She returned her attention to set-up, tuning her guitar, getting out the set lists that she and Ned had made the other night. _I'd like to bet that Bran knew Gendry would be here all along. Not that I'm surprised. You figured he'd be there,_ she told herself as she finished setting up. _Just play what you love and pay no attention to him._

Ned came back to the stage area a few seconds later, two bottles of water in hand. They both sat down, introduced themselves, and began their set. They played through a couple of the older classic rock songs they usually played, Hazy Shade of Winter, Bad Moon Rising, and then moved on to some of the, relatively speaking, newer songs they'd practiced and added to the set list on Saturday night, Champagne Supernova, Blister in the Sun, Short Skirt Long Jacket. They take turns on songs, some with just one or the other singing and some with both, all with each of them playing guitar. About a half hour into the set, Arya stood up and excused herself for a few minutes.

"First off, I wanted to thank everyone that made it out tonight," she started, twisting her guitar around by the strap to lay across her back. "I can't remember the last time I saw a crowd this big for open mic night. It can't be for me though, you're all here for Ned since he's back from Dorne now, aren't you?" she teased, smiling at the chuckles the crowd sent back to her. "Well, I'm going to give you all what you'd like. I'm gonna take a break for a few minutes so that Ned can play a song or two for you all by his lonesome."

She stood up and set her guitar in the little stand next to the stage, half listening to Ned's little introduction he was giving about how good it was to be back in town before she pushed open the door to the employee break room, flopping down on the red plaid couch and letting out a loud sigh, not noticing that one of the workers was also in the room until they cleared their throat.

"Hiding out from the crowd?" the other girl asked.

"Not exactly, Angela," Arya replied. She was one of the regular baristas that Arya saw when she was there. She was about a head taller than Arya and wore her light blonde hair short, not too unlike Jon's haircut, Arya always thought when she looked at her. Arya wasn't exactly sure how old she was, but she always thought that she seemed young, even compared to herself, but Angela had told her she'd been promoted to assistant manager a few months back, so she couldn't have been that young. "Just figured I'd give Ned a couple songs to himself. He got back from Dorne on Saturday and when we practiced I sorta suggested that we cut out a lot of the older and more, ugh, couple-y songs from our set. I actually think the big baby's a little pissed about it so I'm giving him some alone time with his damned ballads."

"Letting him get it outta his system then, eh?" She replied, grabbing her apron and tying it back around her waist. "Well, my break time is over. Gotta head back out there and make that none of your friends are burnin' down the place."

Arya followed Angela out of the break room, turning to the right instead to head towards the bathrooms as Angela went left back out to the shop. She could hear Ned playing, but wasn't quite sure of the song. _Probably some song about heartbreak that's close to twice as old as we are_ , she thought.

She was only in the bathroom for a minute or two, but when she came back to the main area, she was quick to notice the lack of music, no one sitting in the two stools that were set up, and Ned sitting next to her father in the audience. She stood for a second off to the side and then pulled a chair over and sat down as Angela walked up to the stage, still not quite sure what was going on.

"I hope everyone is having a great time so far. It's always a pleasure to have Arya perform for us every Monday and I'm sure I don't speak for myself when I say I'm glad to see Ned back as well," Angela said, hands clasped in front of her, and Arya could tell she was trying her best to seem professional. "However, I wanted to break from their set for a few minutes because we've got a special half time performance request that I hope you'll all like."

 _A special half time performance? Who in the seven hells could that be?_ Arya thought. _I mean, Jon and Sansa are out there, but they don't seem like the type to team up for some musical bonding time._

"Are you ready?" Angela asked, looking clearly at someone in the audience, but Arya couldn't tell who it was from the angle she was sitting at until a few seconds later when she heard an all too familiar voice.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she heard Gendry reply, and watched him leave Bran behind at the table and walk up to the stage with Meera at his side holding a large hardcover case, all the while staring at him with her mouth slightly open in shock, a look which she would no doubt realize later was probably one of her worst.

He took a seat on one of the stools, one leg touching the ground and the other propped up on one of the rungs, and rolled the sleeves of his heather gray sweater up as Meera worked on setting up her keyboard on its stand.

"Hi, everyone, I'm Gendry and I know I'm a new face here, but even though I just moved up here from Kings Landing not a week ago, it seems like I've already managed to make an enemy of someone, a very stubborn and strong-willed someone. I'm sure by now you all know about what happened at the Stark Family Greeting earlier this week, and so I'd like to dispel any rumors and start by saying that yes, I was the root cause. I've asked my new friend, Miss Meera Reed here," he said, gesturing towards Meera next to him, "to help me work on an apology of sorts… so yea, here goes nothing."

He looked over at Meera, who nodded her readiness and started in with the opening on her keyboard, which was put on the setting to sound like a piano, which was the first part to surprise Arya. Meera was about fifteen seconds into the intro when she got that same slack-jawed look on her face again, the exact moment she realized what song this was. _Oh, gods, what is happening? I know the Old Gods are always more neutral but I swear the Seven must be vengeful if this is what they have in store for me_ , she thought to herself, wondering what she could have done in a past life to deserve being serenaded by him of all people. _I guess we'll see what he's got, I suppose, and hopefully he won't ruin my favorite Smiths' song too much_ , she decided, just in time for him to start in on the vocals.

Hand in glove  
The sun shines out of our behinds  
No, it's not like any other love  
This one is different - because it's us

Hand in glove  
We can go wherever we please  
And everything depends upon  
How near you stand to me

And if the people stare  
Then the people stare  
Oh, I really don't know and I really don't care

There's no shame, ohhh no...  
Ohhh no...

When the song got a couple of verses in, she had finally let herself relax a little bit. _Ya know, he's not actually half bad,_ she allowed herself to think _. It's even a bit endearing. I've always had a guitar to hold onto and never had to worry about what to do with my hands, and he clearly has no idea._ She felt herself getting a goofy grin on her face watching him and even started to sing along with the words, catching his eye a time or two, she could tell he was enjoying himself. It was obvious that this was his first time at this type of thing, aside from maybe a drunken karaoke adventure or two, but he wasn't tone deaf at least, and could somewhat keep up with Meera's excellent playing.

Hand in glove  
The good people laugh  
Yes, we may be hidden by rags  
But we've something they'll never have

Hand in glove  
The sun shines out of our behinds  
Yes, we may be hidden by rags  
But we've something they'll never have

And if the people stare  
Then the people stare  
Oh, I really don't know and I really don't care

There's no shame, ohhh no...  
Ohhh no...

As she sang along with his slower piano version of the song, something she hadn't thought about before abruptly popped into her head. _How the shit does he know that I love this song? Oh Meera, you little sneak. It's obvious you had a hand in this... but you couldn't possibly have known the perfect song_ , she thought to herself as she tried to covertly scan the room, looking for a clue. _It can't be Ned. I mean, he'd definitely know which song to play, but he just got back from Dorne and doesn't know Gendry yet. Besides, he looks just as surprised as I do… Okay, maybe not just as surprised, but no one is singing to him._ She saw Bran sitting by himself now at the table that Meera and Gendry were also previously at. She met Bran's eyes and watched the huge grin expand across his face and she knew it was him.

So, hand in glove I stake my claim  
I'll fight to the last breath

If they dare touch a hair on your head  
I'll fight to the last breath

For the good life is out there somewhere  
So stay on my arm, you little charmer

But I know my luck too well  
Yes, I know my luck too well  
And I'll probably never see you again  
I'll probably never see you again  
I'll probably never see you again

Not milliseconds after Meera and Gendry finished, the crowd went wild with their applause and cheering and it was at that exact moment that she realized that this was planned. _There's no way a crowd like this would show up to Indigo this early in the season unless… unless they planned all of this in advance. Oh, I get it. Now everyone here will see what he did to make his actions up to me. He basically won them all over to his side just now trying to win me over, or apologize. It was a valiant effort too, almost worked._ She really wanted to be angry and was actively trying to convince herself that she should be, but for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to get pissed. _There was a lot of effort put into this, practice time with Meera, figuring out the song, and even though it's just an open mic night in a small coffee shop, it does take some balls to get up here in front of everyone. I do appreciate giving your all, but I don't think I'll let him think he's won so quickly,_ Arya decided.

Ned had already made his way up to Gendry, offering his praise for the performance when Arya walked up to the stage.

"Hey, Ned, you wanna let go of my new friend for a few minutes?" Arya said, interrupting their conversation. Meera had just finished packing up her keyboard and settled back in her seat next to Bran.

"So, I guess I'll play another few songs for you guys then, eh?" Ned said to the audience, picking his guitar off the stand and putting the strap over his shoulders.

She mouthed her thanks to him before looking up at Gendry and grabbing his arm to make sure she had his full attention.

"You. Back alley. Now." she said through her teeth, trying not to think of the muscles she felt through the sweater, then turned immediately away from him, letting go of her grip on him and starting off towards the back of the shop.

She assumed he was behind her and only looked back once to confirm she was correct. He followed a few steps behind her down the hallway, past the restrooms and employee office, then through the door marked emergency exit and out into the back alley that all the shops shared.

"So, you gonna yell at me again?" he said casually, pushing the sleeves of his sweater back down to his wrists and leaning up against the brick building, yellow light pouring over him from the old fixture above the door.

"I might. I might ask what you thought you were doing. What your problem is." She was walking back and forth, pacing almost nervously.

"My problem? My problem," he said, crisply enunciating as he straightened up from his position against the wall and took a cautious step closer, "is you, Arya Stark."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," she muttered, trying to keep it under her breath but failing in the quiet of the alley. She started to turn to leave but was held in place by his hand on her arm. She sighed, turning to face him, startled when she looked up and found him, bright eyes intent on her, only inches from her face.

"Stop. Don't just run back inside. I've been trying to apologize. I've been trying to be a friend. I'm asking you to give me a lesson because you're the best and I want to learn from the best, not from some idea of me owing you or you owing me." He paused a moment and she knew he was watching her redden at the compliment. "That's not just it though, I want to get to know you and I've got a bit of an idea that you might want to get to know me too. You can't deny we were getting along pretty well at the party at first and I'm sure as hell not going to."

He smiled, a smile that meant he definitely knew what he was talking about when he said that, and Arya couldn't help but think back to their easy conversation, especially with his hand still on her arm like it had been on Friday.

"Gods, you're a stubborn one, aren't ya? Fine, I'll admit it, I blew up on Friday and we were getting along pretty well before that," she said, silently cursing herself for smiling when she said it. "So yes, I'll try."

"You will?" he asked, eyes wide, finally taking his hand off her arm. She'd never admit out loud, but she missed the large spot of warmth it had made, she just then realized her short sleeves were not the best idea.

"Yes, don't look so shocked. I'm not some heartless bitch like they most likely want you to think I am. It was actually a good performance in there, ya know, and for some odd reason you succeeded in making me feel like I need to put a bit more effort in on my side. So congrats on that, Waters." Arya took a few steps away, back towards the door, and then looked at Gendry still standing in the same spot, white snowflakes starting to accumulate on his sweater. "Well, come on now. We're going back in. I've still got another half hour of songs to play and I don't want to know what sorts of rumors Theon will start to spread if we stay out here too much longer. Here's the plan – I play the rest of my set with Ned, we'll all go home, and if you want your ski lesson, you'll be at the beginner lesson meeting spot Thursday morning at 8:30am." She held open the back door and looked back at him waiting for an answer. "You are available Thursday at 8:30, right?"

"Of course. I'll see you bright and early, Miss Stark," he finally answered as he walked past her and back into the shop.

 _Well, this should at least prove to be amusing_ , she thought, sighing loudly as she went inside, admitting inwardly that she was looking forward to Thursday.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally an update on this. I promise it's not dead, just slow going :)

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

**BRAN STARK**

**TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21**

 

The first four class periods of the day went by surprisingly fast, despite how tired he found himself as he made his way through the halls to his next class, which was thankfully followed by lunch. He’d stayed at the coffee shop last night for about another hour after Ned and Arya’s last performances were done, and Meera had walked home with him when they both finally decided to leave, getting back to the condo around nine thirty. It wasn’t all that late, but he always seemed to forget that Tuesday morning’s were one of his early days. He cursed himself now for signing up for that zero hour applied calculus class. _Two days a week of having to be at school at six thirty instead of seven thirty didn’t seem too horrible when we signed up for classes last year_ , he thought, _but it’s not the actual class that’s awful, it’s being exhausted two hours later and still having more classes to sit through. Well, at least it’s better that having to stay after school all the time like Rickon does._

 

He was thankful for his early class this morning though, when he really thought about it. Yesterday he had spent all of his lunch period and as much time as he could sneak during classes working to arrange the crowd at Indigo last night. Having to navigate through the Winterfell High School halls in a wheelchair wasn't difficult, especially with everyone knowing him and making space in the crowd, but he was unable to text and multi-task like everyone else was. By lunchtime he had managed to get a hold of everyone he could think of and a shot another message to Meera thanking her once again for the idea and asking her to talk to some of her coworkers that he didn't know.

 

Bran wished that he had been quick enough to think of setting up Arya like this, but it was all Meera this time around. When she dropped him off at home on Sunday night she’d mentioned it would be a good idea to get a crowd there and luckily the performance went off without a hitch, being actually much better than they’d all thought it would be. Not exactly embarrassing at all in the end, but it worked. Gendry had texted him and Meera afterwards to fill them in on the conversation he had with Arya in the alleyway, but something about it left a bad taste in his mouth. Bran was happy that Gendry was able to get the lesson he wanted, but things were going to be weird until his sister got off her high horse and apologized to Gendry for how she’d been acting. _It’s one thing to yell at someone when they literally run into you, but it’s a totally different thing to act the way she did at Jon’s party. Really, if I was Gendry that would’ve been enough to make me just say “screw this” and find another girl to be friends with. Sometimes, I think I'm the only one in this family, aside from Jon, that understands a real relationship_ , he thought, _and_ _I'm not even entirely sure what's going on with Meera and me half the time. Robb's getting married to some girl he barely knows, Sansa thinks no one knows about her and Sandor, Arya can't see a good thing that's right in front of her damned face, and Rickon still thinks it's okay to act out to show that Karstark girl that he has a crush on her._

 

After getting Gendry’s texts, he had made sure to ask him if she’d said anything in way of an apology for her actions and the very quick reply was that she had not. That, among other things, was the reason why he was glad he was able to avoid Arya last night after open mic night as well as for his early classes this morning, which helped him avoid her at breakfast as well. These last couple of days, through practicing for hours with him on the song, not to mention seeing him almost every day that he met Meera at work since the two had practically the same shifts, had led him to strike up a friendship with Gendry and begin to get pretty pissed at Arya for the way she had been treating him, despite any concessions she might have been making now by agreeing to the lesson. _Isn’t it supposed to be that since I’m a guy I’m supposed to be clueless when it comes to all this relationship crap,_ Bran thought, turning the corner into his Westerosi history class and taking his spot up at the front right desk. _I can’t tell if she just truly does not want to be friends with him, if she’s just that stupid to realize that he likes her, or if this is just some stupid way that she is playing hard to get._

 

Normally he would’ve just shrugged it off and let Arya make her own mistakes if that was her prerogative. Next to Jon, Arya was the closest to Bran out of all of the other Stark siblings. This wasn't just like another one of Arya's regular mistakes she was prone to making, most of those just fueled by her lack of patience or moments of stupidity. He could more than tell that Arya was being too hot-headed and stubborn to see what was actually good for her in this situation, and it took him back momentarily to that paper on Pride and Prejudice he'd had to write in freshman year, but he was torn between making Arya into Elizabeth or into Mr. Darcy.

 

After classes, he’d taken the bus back home and had been working on his laptop on his history homework in his room for about an hour or so when he heard the front door open and close.

 

“Hey, Arry, that you?” he called from his room, figuring that it was either her or Rickon, but he usually used the door in from the garage, on strict orders from their mother in order to try and stop the inevitable mess that followed him around.

 

“Yea, what’s up?” he heard her yell from the hallway.

“You wanna come in here for a minute? Got something I’d like to talk about if you’re not busy.” He could hear her putting her coat and boots away in the closet through the walls and see the movement through his cracked open bedroom door. They hadn’t been able to find a condo in the village that had an elevator to the second floor, so when they bought this one it was decided that instead of having an office for Ned on the first floor, they would use the room instead for Bran. It was smaller than the bedrooms upstairs and didn’t have a bathroom attached to it, but there were four walls and a door that locked, which was all that mattered to him.

 

"Okay, just gimme a sec," Arya yelled back from the hallway, her voice trailing at the end, quickly followed by the sound of some kitchen cupboards slamming shut and the refrigerator door opening and closing, and her loud footsteps quickly getting closer to his door before that was also noisily flung open. _Gods, she makes as much noise as Rickon sometimes._

 

A minute later, Arya pushed open the door and let herself in to Bran's room, still dressed in her UnderArmour tights with a large faded sweatshirt, one that looked to be about ten years old, judging by the old style Winterfell logo. Most likely it was one of Jon's that she'd stolen when he moved out. She walked over to the bed and climbed completely on to it, sitting cross-legged at the end facing Bran.

 

Leaning over to the other side of the bed, she pulled over a rolling TV tray and piled on the bag of chips, a jar of Dornish pepper salsa, and two sodas she had brought from the kitchen. "Here," she began, stretching out her legs on the bed and ripping open the bag of chips, "Pre-dinner snack for my favorite little brother. So, what'd you wanna talk about? If you've got girl problems with Meera, then Robb or Sansa might be your best bet at that. You know how shit I am when it comes to relationships.”

 

_This is going to suck_ , he thought. _Not that she's ever in the mood for a serious conversation._

 

He looked at her and gave a nervous laugh, pushing the longer front part of his hair off his face, and setting his laptop down on the bedside table. “Well, yes, in fact I do know how shit you are in relationships,” he started, watching her face slightly change from amusement to a bit of confusion, “A trait which apparently isn't limited to just romantic relationships anymore. Seems it's spilled over into your normal platonic ones recently, so I decided it was time for a little Bran-tervention.”

 

Bran watched his sister stare at him for about three seconds before bursting out into peels of laughter, struggling to catch her breath and “Oh gods, what, what'd you just say?” She managed finally between breaths. “...the fuck's a bantertention?”

 

“A Bran Intervention, Bran-tervention... like the TV show...” he stumbled, then saw her getting close to laughing again. “Dammit, Arry, just listen. I've been going over this talk in my head all day and that's the best I've come up with, so just shut up, okay? Are you going to hear me out or not?”

 

“Okay, okay, you've got my full attention,” she said, talking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, taking a drink of her soda, and smoothing the flyaway hairs back into her ponytail.

 

“I've been talking to a lot of our friends and we all feel the same way about this. It's about Gendry, and before you huff and storm out,” he quickly added, “we're glad you agreed to give him a lesson, but we still think you're being unfair to him. 'A right bitch', actually, if we want to use some of our other friends' words.” Bran looked over at Arya, trying to gauge her reaction, but she was just sitting there, she'd pulled her legs back under her and began to hide, hands escaping into the big pocket of her sweater. _Well, guess her silence means I can keep talking,_ he thought.

 

“We all know what happened before the Greeting, and yes, it sucks. You were late in front of everyone and Mom'll probably give you hell for it for a couple of months. But you honestly can't hold that against him. I highly doubt he was walking around the square trying to figure out whose day he could screw up. And from what I've heard, you were late to begin with, so you'd better start to think about what to say to him about the way you treated him at Jon's party... in front of the whole group too, Arya, really...” he trailed off. “Are you listening to me? You're just staring at your lap, so I hope you haven't zoned out. I'm friends with Gendry now, so are Meera and Jeyne and Hot Pie too. He deserves an apology from you.”

 

As Bran finished as much as he thought he had to say, he waited for what seemed like forever for Arya to say something. _It isn't like her to stay so quiet like this and it especially isn't like her to not have answer or some sort of reply ready for me before I'm even done._

 

“I know,” she said quietly, still looking down, just as Bran had been getting ready to say something again.

 

“You do?”

 

She took her hands out of the pocket of her sweater and folded them in her lap, then raised her head to look at Bran. “Yea. I know I need to talk to him about it.”

 

“Then why haven't you? You've seen him a couple times since then and you know where he lives.”

 

“I didn't realize at first exactly how bat-shit crazy I acted. I know I'm quick to act and I usually ignore whatever manners that Mom tried to instill in us, but once I saw him again on Saturday at rentals, I realized that Friday night wasn't just Arya being Arya and being a bit of a hard-ass, I was just being mean,” she explained as she pushed herself up with her hands and crawled over to sit next to Bran, with her back against the headboard and legs straight out ahead of her. “Once I realized how much of an ass I'd been... and as hard as it is for me to admit this and gods help you if you repeat this, but how much I think I actually do like him, I guess I was embarrassed at how I'd acted.”

 

“You're agreeing with me? Really?”

 

"Gods, Bran, don't sound so surprised! I'm not a heartless unfeeling bitch, at least not _entirely_ , and if it makes you feel any better I did spend the majority of my day being reminded by almost everyone at this entire gods damned resort about his performance last night and how special I must feel to get serenaded like that... there were even strangers in the gondola line talking about it this morning! So yea, I've thought a lot about it."

 

_Oh, she's not getting off that easy_. "And...?"

 

"And... I'm seeing him on Thursday for the ski lesson he asked for and I'm going to apologize then, properly," she added, tilting her head to the side for emphasis as she looked over at Bran.

 

"You'll make sure to mention the blatantly obvious fact that what happened at the staff meeting was an accident and he didn't need to be the one that apologized at all?"

 

"Ugh, yes. I'll make sure to mention the blatantly obvious fact that what happened at the staff meeting was an accident and he didn't need to be the one that apologized," Arya repeated, groaning loudly. "When'd you start to scold me like you're mom? Aren't I supposed to be the older sibling?"

 

Bran shrugged. "Maybe if you didn't act five years old all the time..." he replied, trying his hardest to maintain a straight face.

 

"Oh!" she scoffed, slowly pushing the rolling tray away from the bed. "Brandon Stark! I'll show you who acts like they're five!"

 

Most of the time, Bran didn't let the fact that he couldn't move his bottom half bother him, but he knew that right now, in that moment, he was trapped. This was it, and he was going to regret that he made that snarky comment to Arya, knowing she would definitely retaliate. The wide, evil grin on Arya's face and the way she began to laugh didn't help him feel any better about what was coming next.

 

She crawled the couple feet over to him and attacked him, tickling mercilessly. She couldn't do this with Rickon, he was liable to punch her square in the nose, she'd stopping horsing around like this with Robb and Jon once they were big enough to just push her off, and she wouldn't dare tickle-attack Sansa for fear of her screaming bloody murder.

 

"Mom! Mom! Arya's trying to kill me!" he yelled, though he was sure no one would come running to save him since his loud laughing was certain to give him away.

 

**ARYA STARK**

**THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24**

 

After the talk with Bran on Tuesday followed by a few hours of good old-fashioned thought and brooding in her room, accompanied by a pint of ice cream and listening to the practically worn out Oasis cassette that she'd stolen from Jon's room ages ago, she'd finally admitted to herself that despite how annoying he could be, how stubborn and persistent, and how he had that uncanny ability to show up by accident to somewhere that she also happened to be, that Gendry was one of the most attractive people she'd ever met. _I don't think he knows it either, not like Ned Dayne_. Ned could've been front of the whole coffee shop, singing a song that Arya knew was for her, but he'd still be sitting on that stool pulling smiles and making eyes at every girl in the room that was even remotely attractive. He was different than most of the friends she'd had since growing up or the other workers she befriended at the resort. She had tried to spend as much time as she could spend finding out more about him from Meera, or Bran, or Hot Pie, really whoever was free to talk to her. Bran knew a little bit, Meera mostly said something about how Arya should just make conversation during their lesson and find out these things for herself, and Hot Pie only said he'd trade information for some of Catelyn Stark's famed cherry cobbler. She wasn't _horrible_ at conversation, she knew she'd have plenty of time on Thursday to talk to him, but for some reason she felt like she wanted, needed, to know everything there was to know about him.

 

Tuesday and Wednesday passed quickly for Arya and Thursday morning showed up sooner than she had expected it to. It was still very early in the season but the impressive snowfalls they'd been getting since the mid-October kept adding to the base snow depth and luring not only locals but out of towners to Winterfell as well.

 

_If I didn't get a comped season pass I'd be blowing off work and skiing now when it's only $75 instead of January when it's fifty bucks more._

 

Normally during this time of the year she'd be lucky to have a full schedule of lessons on weekdays. However for Arya, quick thinking back in August had led to a couple new programs getting adopted and her schedule being packed. She had convinced her father to send her to one of the activity planning meetings with Robb and the rest of the department heads. She'd clamored for a new backcountry clinic for Jon & Ygritte's team as well as a special glade add-on package for intermediate and above skiers and riders that was looked at as one of those "I wonder why we didn't have that before" type of ideas.

 

With some advanced bookings for glade clinics this week combined with unheard of snow for mid-November, she had full mornings and afternoons scheduled in the books for Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

The talk with Bran when she got home after mid-mountain close on Tuesday had worked to sober her up a bit, but she'd be lying, she admitted to herself, if she said she wasn't nervous about his lesson. Arya knew that Gendry was becoming quick friends with Meera and Hot Pie, and so she had sent a group text to the both of them on Wednesday afternoon asking them to make sure that Gendry would actually have proper ski clothes ready and his season pass picked up from the employee offices. Meera had quickly replied back that she was on top of it and she would make sure he was ready and waiting for her Thursday morning.

 

_And... That's a half hour from now_ , she realized, looking up at the kitschy ski-themed clock in the employee locker room, it's ski pole-shaped hour hand and ski-shaped minute hand signaling the time. After finishing putting on the snow pants she kept in her locker and doing her ski boots up loosely, she grabbed her poles and skis, hauling the latter up over her left shoulder, and started off towards the large group of gray and white flags that served as the ski school meeting area. She had made a point to wear her grey Stark jacket instead of the one she would normally wear for her lessons, hoping she wouldn't stick out as much and get less questions from random guests.

 

She didn't make it to the meeting point before she saw Gendry though, actually Gendry, and Meera... and Hot Pie, all three of them outside of the little cafe, leaning up against the outdoor counter, each with a coffee and a pastry in hand. The place was tiny, actually a little off-shot of Indigo aptly named Indigo Express, and there was a curling line out the door this morning, just the same as there was every morning.

 

She looked at Gendry as she walked towards them, noticing thankfully that they'd done their tasks and got him suited up appropriately, although Meera was unfailingly reliable in almost everything she did. He had his dark Winterfell jacket unzipped, a tight grey UnderArmour top giving her a great idea of what the muscles underneath might look like, but she made herself tear her eyes away once she got down to where his snow pants hung off his hips.

 

"Arry! Over here!" Hot Pie yelled, effectively interrupting her ogling.

 

"Yea, yea, I saw you three a mile away," she said, finishing her walk towards their group, stopping a moment to set her skis down in a nearby rack, next to a pair of rental skis that she assumed were Gendry's. _They do stick out something awful though_ , Arya thought. Hot Pie was, well, Hot Pie. Someone his size jumping around, waving and yelling is hard to miss. There was something about Meera that made her stand out in a crowd. She never purposefully brought attention to herself like Hot Pie was doing, but it might have had something to with the one-piece racing suit in a mossy green color that she had on today. And Gendry... Gendry looked like he'd stepped off the pages of the latest issue of Seventeen that just happened to have an article about how to get yourself a hot ski slope boyfriend. "Thanks for stopping for coffee, guys. I'm gonna be pissed, no pun intended, if he's whining for a bathroom break twenty minutes into the lesson."

 

"Sounds like someone is just upset because she thinks we didn't get any for her," Gendry said, taking a step to the left and revealing another coffee cup and plate with a chocolate pastry on it. In the cold air she could see the steam coming off both.

 

She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. “Oh, thank the gods, you guys are the best! I woke up later than I'd thought and didn't have a chance to grab anything this morning.”

 

“Not all of us, Arry,” Meera said, tilting her towards Gendry. _That's interesting... unnecessary, but a warm chocolate pastry? I'll gladly accept that._

 

“Well, then my thanks should go to you, Gendry,” Arya replied. She picked up the coffee, blowing into the small hole in the plastic lid in a not-so-helpful attempt to cool it down, before taking a drink. “The light roast, awesome. I think I'll need the extra caffeine today.”

 

The four of them hung around outside the cafe for about ten minutes, finishing up their breakfasts and listening to what Meera and Hot Pie had planned for the day. Meera had volunteered her day off when presented with the reward of overtime and would be helping receive in a large shipment of new rental helmets, but they didn't need her until eleven so she was going to try and get some laps in on the slalom course, which explained the speed racer get-up. _Fascinating_ , Arya thought sarcastically, saying that she couldn't believe that she'd pass up her day off to organize helmets. Hot Pie chimed in, he was asked by the head chef to work on their special menu for Winterfell Restaurant week that was coming up.

 

“Well,” Arya started, quickly finishing up her drink once she noticed Gendry was done with his, “I think it's about time we head over and get in line.” He agreed, nodding his head and grabbing Arya's empty cup along with his to throw them out. Meera and Hot Pie followed next to them over to the ski racks.

 

They said their good-byes as Gendry awkwardly tried to figure out the best way to pick up his skis. Arya noticed, taking them from him and flipping them over, watching his face study her hands as she showed him how the bindings could catch on each other if you had them facing the right side up. He didn't say anything to her, just smiled and hoisted them up over his shoulder. He fell in line next to her as they walked towards the gondola building.

 

“Oh, hey! Good luck, Gendry!” Hot Pie yelled from behind them. “Break a leg!”

 

Meera quickly leaned over and hit Hot Pie on the arm. “Hot Pie, what the hell?” She looked over to see Meera looking at Hot Pie, him rubbing his arm, and then Meera looking apologeticallly at her. “Sorry guys, don't actually break a leg, Gen. Let us know how it goes afterwards.” She watched Meera and Hot Pie grab their things and walk off, Meera still obviously giving him a hard time.

 

“There's not really a chance of me breaking a leg, is there?” Gendry said, breaking the silence as they waited in the short line for the gondola.

 

Arya looked up at him and laughed, expecting to see the smile she'd come to expect, but she abruptly cut off her laugh when she realized her was serious. “Gods, of course there's a chance, Gendry,” she answered, favoring not to sugarcoat the truth. She watched as both his eyebrows rose up. “Hey, you'll be fine, yea?” She reached out to put a hand on his arm. _Is this supposed to be comforting? I don't even know what I'm doing_. It seemed to have the effect she'd wanted though, he nodded and looked down at her, catching her eyes.

 

He followed her lead once they were in line for the gondola. Take your skis off your shoulder, hold them upright, show the Winterfell worker your pass, get in the queue, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, give the worker your skis, get in gondola. There was a large family in front of them and behind, so they ended up in their own gondola for the ride up.

 

They silently sat across from each other, Arya's laughter breaking the silence when Gendry felt the gondola leave the track in the building, swaying back and forth, making him jolt and grab onto the bench, eyes going wide and staring right at her.

 

"Sorry, never been in one of these death traps before," he said as the swaying lessened and they started to climb further uphill. "So, anything I should know about this whole skiing thing before we start?"

 

She thought for a second. "I'm not sure how much I can explain just sitting in the gondola..." Arya starting her voice trailing off. She noticed Gendry, noticed he was unsure of what to do, what to talk about. _There's about fifteen minutes left until we get to the top. Think of something, Arya_ , she told herself, looking out the window at the people on the run below the gondola. It hit her suddenly.

 

"Here," she said, motioning with her hands for him to lean over towards the glass on the side opposite the door. "There," Arya starts, pointing uphill. "Watch that guy with the red jacket, yea, that one. See how he leans over the fronts of his skis? That's key. Bend your knees, like you're doing a wall squat at the gym and stay over the tips of your skis."

 

"Serious? It looks like he's going to just somersault down the mountain with how far he's leaning," Gendry replied.

 

"Nope, he won't, and neither will you. Look at how much ski there is in front as opposed to behind. Simple physics, yea?"

 

Gendry let out a laugh at that. "Simple physics?"

 

"Well, that's what Bran says at least," Arya replied, chuckling at herself a little bit for stealing her brother's words. She looked back uphill. "Oh, here we go. Look at this lady, the purple coat one..."

 

She pointed out examples of good form, bad form, and little things to think about on the rest of the ride up. Normally the beginner "I've never ever done this before" lessons would start down lower on the mountain, on the tow rope or a magic carpet bunny hill in the designated learning area, but Arya knew they would be packed and also had a feeling that Gendry wouldn't appreciate learning to how to ski side-by-side with three-year olds on leash backpacks. There were plenty of easy greens that meandered their way around the mountain, zig-zagging back and forth across the blues and blacks and they'd be much less traveled than the lower mountain runs.

 

It was helpful that he'd worked in rentals the past week or so, as she didn't need to help him with his boots or actually getting into bindings, save for letting him lean on her for a bit of balance. Arya started to explain how they'd begin, prefacing it with warnings that you will definitely fall, and when you do, just let it happen. "You'll get more hurt if you tense up, believe me," she said. She helped him shuffle his way towards the start of one of the green runs. "Alright now, remember how I pointed out that person with their tips out and backs apart?" He nodded. "That's called "pizza," and that's how you'll start." She came up behind him, positioning herself with her skis on either side of his. "I usually do this with the younger kids since they're small and it's pretty easy, but since you're completely new at this, we'll give it a go. I'll be behind you and you just focus on keeping your feet pizza. We're gonna try to go to that sign down there at the fork and then we'll stop. Turning will be an adjustment, use your hips to shift your weight from side to side." She reached out and put a hand on either side of his hips, pressing in to make sure she didn't just have his coat. "It'll be like I'm your training wheels. Get a good feel for this and you'll go without me next time."

 

He turned around and looked at her, glancing down at her hands and back up to her. "But what if we fall? I'd crush you."

 

"Remember - if we fall, we fall. And I'm not easily crushed," she replied, rolling her eyes at him. "Now, eyes forward, and... we're going!"

 

She was glad he could listen. It was a bit more awkward than a children's lesson, mostly because was about a foot and a half taller and she had a hard time to see where she was going. _Not bad though_ , she thought. He didn't have an issue keeping his feet in that position, he shifted his weight appropriately when she put pressure on his hips, and slowly, very, very slowly, they wove their way to the sign, coming to a creaking stop.

 

When she maneuvered herself out from around his skis and over to his side, she saw that he had a huge smile across his face and couldn't help but smile back. She congratulated him on his first try, telling him that what they just did was pretty much what they were going to practice for the rest of the morning, except she apologized that he wouldn't get the pleasure of her helping him anymore. Over the next couple hours they did laps on all of the green runs coming off of the Castle Black area, taking the regular lifts back up each time. There were lots of wobbles, lots of falls, and a lot of Arya walking uphill with one or both of Gendry's skis when they would pop off during a fall. For all of that though, he was a great sport about all of it, even when he was tangled up in himself and had to use Arya's help to get his legs back where they were supposed to be, as well as help him stand back up.

 

She noticed after their thousandth or so lap on Florian's that Gendry's legs were starting to seem especially shaky and he wasn't making the pizza turns quite like he had been only a half hour ago. _I wonder what's going on_ , she thought, thinking she'd ask him when he stopped by her in a minute, but instead she was rudely interrupted by a loud rumble coming from her own stomach just as Gendry slow came to a wobbly stop next to her.

 

“Oh, thank the gods,” he said. “Should I take it to mean it's lunch time? I've been starving for the last half hour.”

 

“Ugh, yes. I feel like I could eat a whole fucking aurochs,” she replied, shaking her head as Gendry cocked up an eyebrow at her words. “What? I could. You haven't seen me eat yet.” He just looked at her, shaking his head and laughing loudly. “Okay, what's so funny?”

 

“I dunno, I guess most girls I've met don't brag about how much food they can eat, that's all.”

 

They'd started to slowly make their way down the cat track at the bottom of Florian's run, which luckily led back to the lodge at Castle Black.

 

“Well, I would've thought you'd have figured this out by now, but I'm not like those girls.” She thought she heard him say something under his breath, sounding suspiciously like “that's for sure,” but she decided to ignore it.

 

They arrived at the front of Castle Black Lodge a few minutes, Arya handing Gendry one of her poles so he could get his boots out of their bindings, and they headed inside, leaving their skis outside on one of the crowded racks. Arya quickly found a spot to sit, a couple of open seats at the end of a long table, right against the window.

 

“Here,” Arya started, taking off her helmet and jacket, handing them both to Gendry as she shook her hair out, noticing how again looked at her just a millisecond too long. _At least we're both getting in our fair share of ogling today_. “Use your jacket to save seats. I'm going to get us some food.”

 

A confused look came across his face before he frantically reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out his wallet, sliding it across the table to her. “I'll eat anything, but you don't to pay for--”

 

“Stupid,” she muttered, loud enough so he could hear her. His hand was still on top of his wallet, but she placed her hand on top, leaning over the table and pushing the wallet back towards him. _Oh shit, you didn't think about that. You are right in his face. Invading personal space in three, two, one... fuck, might as well run with it now, Arya._ “Don't worry about it,” she said, and used her other hand to tap on the Winterfell logo on his jacket. “I've got some personal connections that say your lunch is on the resort. So just wait here, I'll bring enough food for the both of us."

 

She stood up, pushing herself up using the edge of the table and quickly turned on the balls of her feet towards the food lines, her braid whipping around and landing over her shoulder. She hurriedly bought lunch, which was probably enough for four people, but stood in shock on her walk back when she noticed two other people sitting at the table with Gendry, quickly recognizing Ygritte's bright hair contrasting against her black jacket. She'd recognize Jon anywhere.

 

She walked up behind them and loudly cleared her throat.

 

"Arry! There you are!" Ygritte said, standing up to help her get all the food on the table, before giving her a hug. "We recognized Gendry from the party and the open mic night, so we figured you were around here somewhere. He said he strong-armed you into giving him a lesson," she said, winking at Arya.

 

"He's a brave man, if I've ever seen one," Jon added.

 

"I'm going to choose to ignore that -- for now," Arya shot back as she squeezed herself between the end of the table and the window, then sat down next to Gendry and started to separate the food she'd bought for each of them. With Ygritte there, she knew she was going to have a hard time getting a word in, as surely she would spend the half hour or so through lunch grilling Gendry about everything from what television shows he likes to what it was like to grow up in the South and how he was enjoying Arya teaching him how to fall down the mountain the proper way. She was content to quietly relax during lunch, sit back, eat some chili in a bread bowl, and listen to whatever Gendry was saying, but whenever she would daze off for more than an instant listening to his stories she would feel Jon's glare on her. _I know what you're thinking, that's what he's telling me_ , she realized.

 

Jon and Ygritte headed out about a half hour later, heading higher up the mountain with a tour group. Arya had to admit to herself that she was feeling pretty good about where the lesson was headed. Aside from the falling, Gendry had been progressing as much as anyone that had never seen snow before was expected to. The ease of the lessons in the morning did not translate into afternoon progress. _Maybe something in the chili threw his inner ear out of whack and that's why he's falling over right and left. He is determined though, I'll give him that_. She could tell he was getting frustrated, but whatever magic was supposed to happen, whatever was supposed to click when she explained and showed him over and over again the way to do it, it just didn't seem like it was going to happen. She even tried the same tactic as the first run, skiing behind him and guiding him, but that only served to get them both tangled in each in a snow pile on the side of the run.

 

Arya rummaged through the pocket of her ski jacket, pulling off one of her gloves with her teeth, and swiping the screen of her phone with her finger to see what time it was. The sun was starting to get lower in the sky and she was starting to worry that, at least with the way the lesson had been going after lunch, they'd have a tough go at making it down the green run leading back to the base area. It'd be packed full of people heading back at this time of day, and she wasn't certain that Gendry's turns could keep him and everyone else out of harm's way.

 

Gendry stood awkwardly next to her on the side of the hill, knees wobbling and feet splayed out in the 'pizza' style that she had shown him when they first began. "Time to head in?"

 

"Yea, 'bout that time. I'm so used to being on this mountain that I can practically tell just by where the sun is in the sky," she said. She looked up at the western sky, guessed that it was just before four o'clock, then smiled at her phone when she saw she was correct. "Four. You don't notice as much down in the village but the sun just seems to set quicker when you're up here, and you don't want to try to ski down in the dark." _There, that was nice of me_ , she thought. _I didn't even mention about I doubt he'd make it down in the daylight. I wouldn't take any of my lessons down in dusk._

 

"I don't think I could even begin to try to make it down this in the dark..." Gendry replied, somewhat in awe of her internal clock.

 

"I've had to do it a couple of times before," she answered, shoving her phone back into her pocket. "But really, Gendry, after today, I'm not certain you could get all the way down the mountain at all... well, maybe in hiking shoes... in July."

 

_Oops. There goes that whole 'being nice' idea..._

 

She watched as he turned his body around quickly to try to face her, completely forgetting that he had skis on, almost losing his balance and falling over, only saving it by holding out both arms at shoulder height to steady himself. "Hey! Cut me a little slack, will ya?"

 

Arya smiled and scooted over the few feet to him, letting him put his gloved hand on her shoulder to fully steady himself. "I could, but I dunno.... where's the fun in that, ya know?" She paused to hold out one of her poles for him to grab on to, which he did, make a rather unamused face for a moment. "After some of the falls I've seen today, I think we're both due for a gondola ride back down to the village." _I usually do this with my children's lessons, but I guess it'll work just as well with him_ , she thought, putting all of her weight into pulling the pole to give him a bit of a start towards the gondola.

 

She managed to successfully sling shot him in the direction of the loading station, but stayed back for a minute to watch him cautiously skate towards the entrance, trying to get as close as he could. _Seven hells, I never thought I'd find anyone so amusing to watch wobble around on skis. It's almost like those YouTube videos that Sansa watches of baby giraffes trying to walk for the first time..._ Arya handed one of her poles back to Gendry to use to pop his skis, standing to watch him while she quickly got out of her bindings. Things went much smoothly once he was able to pick them up and walk with them into the gondola building.

 

"Alright, Arya," Gendry started, the moment they had got themselves situated in the gondola. "You've gotta tell me the truth. Was I really that awful?"

 

"Truthfully?" Arya asked. She pushed her goggles off the front of her helmet, letting them dangle off the back, settling her gaze on Gendry as he sat across from her, him starting to loosen his boots and she took her gloves off.

 

"Truthfully."

 

"Fine. You weren't the worst I've seen, that's for damn sure, but you were far from the best. Maybe it's just that skiing doesn't mesh well with you Kings Landing types," she guessed, but she could tell that he was turning around some idea in his head. This was the longest time so far that they'd been around each other, and by lunchtime Arya was already able to figure out when he was mulling over something in his head before he decided to say it aloud.

 

"Hey, us Kings Landing types can do this too," he started. She looked over at him, hearing the annoyed sound in his voice, but was relieved to see a teasing smile. "You've gotta remember that it's my first time on skis and that two weeks ago the closest I'd come to snow was the freezer section. Some might say that I need a little more time before I'm up to the Stark family level."

 

“How about this,” she started, trying her best to coolly stare at him from across the gondola. She leaned back against the glass and stretched out to rest her booted feet next to him on the bench, watching his eyes flash down to them for a split second before coming back up to meet hers. “You say you want some time, so we’ll meet up again, one week from now. I bet you won't be able to make it down Widow's Wail with both your skis attached to your boots at the end of the run.”

 

"Widow's Wail? That's the blue-black you had me look down after lunch, yea?" Arya nodded. "What are we wagering?” he asked. “If it’s real bet, there’s gotta be something at stake.”

 

“Fine, then. If you fail, which you most undoubtedly will, I get to ask something of you, whatever I want,” she answered, grinning on the inside that she had thought of something like that.

 

“And if I don't fail?”

 

_He's seriously considering it. I always thought Rickon was the one without a sense of self preservation..._

 

“Well, fair is fair. I wouldn’t want anyone to say that I’m a Stark that didn’t honor her words. In that ridiculously rare case, then yes, I’ll do whatever you ask me.”

 

He looked at her for a few seconds, _probably a few longer than absolutely necessary_ , Arya thought, before offering his hand.

 

“Alright, Arya Stark, you've got yourself a deal. Next Thursday, top of the Gondola... One o'clock?”

 

She reached her hand out to shake his in agreement. “I'll be there,” she replied, failing spectacularly at keeping a smug smile off her face. She looked out the window of the gondola, only to notice that they hadn't even gotten to the mid-way point yet. _And there goes the conversation_ , she thought. _It's probably a good time to talk about the other day_. She'd thought about bringing it up at lunch, but that flew right out the window when she saw Jon and Ygritte sitting down across from him, quickly taking the conversation away from what Arya had planned on. She did appreciate getting to learn more about him, since Ygritte was mostly interested in the movies he liked (Fight Club, Top Gun, Back to the Future, War Games) and what music he listened to (The Offspring, Prodigy, Joy Division).

 

She looked up from where her gaze had landed at her boots and caught him looking at her, _that_ look again, the one from the party, the one she remembered from Ned in high school. Unsure of what was going to come out of his mouth next, and quite honestly, a little bit afraid, she decided that this was the time for her to speak up and give that apology she owed him.

 

“So... now that we've got that bet on the line and I've got you trapped inside the gondola for another about ten minutes or so, there is something I've been wanting to talk to you about...”

 

He looked surprised, but sat up a little straighter again. “There is? I thought Ygritte had pulled out just about every random fact about me at lunch, but I'm sure there's something you still don't know. Oh, I jumped off the top of a slide when I was six and broke my arm, and then when I was -"

 

"No, that's well... that's not what I meant," Arya started. She was beginning to stare back at her hands, chewing her lip and showing all the normal Arya signs of nervousness. _What's that line from that old Braavosi martial arts movie?_ she asked herself. _Hah, that's right. 'Fear cuts deeper than swords.' He's waiting, just say it_. "Listen, I don't really know what to say, so I'm just gonna do this the best I can. I'm sorry for how shitty I've been treating you since you got here. You probably don't know this, but when we collided in the square I was already late, already upset, and most likely not paying any attention. It was my own damn fault, but I exploded at you because you were there and I've got a tendency not to think things through sometimes..."

 

"Really, Arya," he said. He'd rested his arm over her legs next to him, and despite being through a layer of long underwear, snow pants, his shirt, and then his coat, she still found his proximity and familiarity distracting. "You don't need to apologize to me about any of --"

 

"Yes. Yes, I do. Please... just let me finish. I really enjoyed talking to you at lunch today, and the rest of today, and at the party too, before I went crazy. I don't know what I was thinking! I mean, fucking hells, all you did was ask me for a ski lesson!" She said, probably a bit loudly for the enclosed gondola. Her braid was coming out, and she pulled the tie out of the bottom of it, glad to have something to fiddle with. "I don't know, I think I just expected you to ask my something different, that's all." She shrugged. "So yea, that's what I wanted to say. I don't hate you, I'm not some crazy bitch like you have every right to think, and as weird as it is to say this out loud, I would very much like it if we can start over and be friends." She pulled her hair around to the side of her face and took a deep breath, exhaling audibly, impatiently waiting for Gendry to say something.

 

He paused for a second, before he smiled at her and nodded. "Yea, I think I would very much like to start over."

 

"Good," she said, picking up her feet off the bench Gendry sat on, then standing up to join in on his side of the bench. "Why don't we start by you showing me those awesome designs you said you just turned in for your first assignment? I think you said something about them when we were with Meera and HP this morning, didn't you?"

 

She watched as he excitedly fumbled through his pockets for his phone and then concentrated on pulling up the pictures. They leaned towards the middle of the gondola for a better angle on the phone, Arya intently listening to him explain each design and what he was trying to show.

 

_Bran was right_ , she thought when Gendry paused to try and find some close up pictures. _It's going to be much better to get to know him now_. She looked up from the phone screen for a second and barely caught his eyes moving off of her and back to the screen. _Much, much better._


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

**GENDRY WATERS**

**FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH**

 

He hadn't had enough time left in the gondola with Arya the other day to tell her about the unexpected praise he'd received from Jaqen, or tell her how much he enjoyed the lesson, or how much he was realizing he wanted to find a way to know everything about her. Even though most people wouldn't think that a lesson that only went 'sort of well' combined with the Widow's Wail bet he'd stupidly made were the things that good weeks were made of, but in Gendry's mind it was just another awesome end to a week that started awkwardly.

 

He knew it shouldn't have been, but his assignment he'd received from Jaqen during their last meeting had him working in front of the large monitors in the Baratheon offices much later than he'd expected and there had been a few times when he'd brought his laptop to Indigo to work there after the cleaning crew turned off the office lights. One time, Jaqen had also wandered in, sitting with Mya and drinking espresso out of a cup that was so tiny it was almost absurd compared to the large mug he had on his table, that'd been refilled more times than he'd like to recall. A slight nod was all Jaqen gave him in terms of recognition. Gendry wasn't used to getting nervous and he'd never had any feelings of self-doubt when he would meet with Professor Mott to go over his assignments afterwards during his office hours. Mott had always been the very definition of the word 'surly' but if anyone took the time to pay attention it was blatantly obvious that he cared about his students' successes, but just had a harsh way of communicating his constructive criticism at times. _At all times, actually_. Anticipating Jaqen's review on Tuesday morning had made his stomach churn nauseatingly until he finally sat down with him in one of the small conference rooms. Gendry had saved his assignment in the shared drive the night before as requested and when he met Jaqen in the conference room he saw that all five of his designs had been printed and spread out before him. Jaqen stood silently to the side of the long table, watching as Gendry came in, noticed his work spread out, and spent a few moments looking at each. It was the first time he'd seen them like this, professionally printed and matted, and he knew he was failing at keeping his reaction to himself. He had spent a lot of time on these, going back and making sure everything was, if not perfect, tweaked to be exactly the way he was envisioning it. The last time he had seen his work presented in this style was at his senior exhibition and it made him feel the same way now as it did then - real, important, accomplished. Not just some kid that dicked around in Photoshop in his free time.

 

"It is unnecessary to hide your reaction to your own work, Mr. Waters," Jaqen said, approaching the table. "If I may speak plainly, I was also very pleased with your work when I saw that it was uploaded on the server this morning. I do not do this for everybody, but I asked one of the aides to make sure your submissions were printed and matted this morning before your arrival. After your review, you'll receive copies to keep for your own portfolio..."

 

When Gendry thought back to the review now, a few days later, it was hard to imagine ever having been nervous. Maybe he'd pegged Jaqen wrong, thinking that someone who seemed as standoffish and aloof couldn't possibly be capable of giving praise, but he was wrong. Gendry had one of the binders he used to keep inspiration handy and had showed Jaqen some of the old resort maps and advertisements he'd found from some thirty some years ago, as well as some ads he'd found in old magazines for random every day things, food items, clothing, soda, board games, anything he could use to get a feeling of the retro vintage style he was tasked to pay homage to. _Apparently, I was successful,_ he thought _. Now, if only I could figure out a way to be just as successful at that stupid bet I made with Arya._

 

By Friday morning when he walked into the rentals office at seven-thirty for work, just over twelve hours had passed but the gossip surrounding his bet with Arya seemed to already have floated around the resort staff rather quickly. _It's not that interesting when you really think about it. Nobody knows what we're going to ask each other yet._

 

Meera was already at work that morning, opening about ten minutes before Gendry arrived. She was in the backroom, getting some of the daily opening duties out of the way, but it seemed like she'd only been waiting to quiz Gendry on the gossip she'd already heard.

 

"So, I hear you've got a soft spot for short Stark girls and, oh yea, possibly killing yourself on the mountain on Thursday, eh?" Meera greeted. She followed him as he walked passed her, tossing his backpack into a cubbie in the

shop room and plopping down on the arm of the couch.

 

"I, ugh, take it you've heard about my bet with Arya."

 

"Yep. Me and about everyone else that works at this blasted place. One thing you'll learn, if there's any news that's good, or in this case, barely even interesting, it'll spread through here like dragons fire. I swear to the Seven, I think it's worse than a high school half the time." She walked over to the work bench, picking up the two clipboard hanging off the wall and handing one to Gendry. "What's your plan? I heard from Bran last night that Arya said your lesson didn't go spectacularly... and now you've got yourself into a run down... What was it? Dark Sister?"

 

"Widow's Wail."

 

"Oh, so even harder," Meera said, laughing nervously. "Ya know, you and Arry, you two are a right pair. She enjoys making you uncomfortable and you seem to be a glutton for punishment."

 

Running a hand through his hair, he sighed loudly and pushed himself up from the couch. "That's a nice phrase for what I am.'Gods damned idiot' is more along the lines of what I'd call it."

 

"Hey, you said it, not me," she said, a smile on her face as she walked over to where he was starting to make a pot of coffee in the industrial style coffee maker. "Don't worry though, you'll be fine."

 

"Yea? How do you know that?"

 

"I've got a fool-proof plan for you to win. Figured it out last night with Bran."

 

"Cheating? Like you and Bran create an elaborate distraction for Arya and then before she realizes it what's happened, I've walked down the run instead of skied down?"

 

"Not quite. I'm a bit more of the classic elbow grease and hard work sort of girl," she began, taking the hot cup of coffee that Gendry offered to her, but immediately set it on the counter. Instead she reached out, surprising Gendry when she reached out and firmly grabbed both of his shoulders, squaring him in front of her and starting to talk again in the most serious tone of voice he'd ever heard come out of her. "And by that, I mean you're going to be skiing more in the next six days that you'll probably ever ski in your life. I've known Arya Stark a long time and for a long time I've seen way too many things come very easily to her. The Starks have always treated my brother and me like a part of their family, but I'd be lying if I said that I am not looking forward to the chance to watch Arya eat her own words. So yes, I'll teach you how to ski, Gendry... but first," she paused, still having a hold on his arms, she turned him to face the door, and gave a push. "Get out there and get to work!"

 

It had been some of the best news he'd ever heard, he'd realized as he walked out to unlock the doors, still able to hear Meera's laugh just slightly in the front of the building. Of course, he'd never seen Meera actually ski before, but he knew she'd been making trips to Winterfell with her family since she was born and was strapped into skis as soon as she could walk. Her confidence was going a long way in making him feel much better about his fate.  

 

**SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH**

**SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26TH**

**MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27TH**

Saturday and Sunday worked the same as Friday had - he worked with Meera at the opening shift until 1pm, the only difference being that instead of relaxing a bit for lunch, she made him order his sandwich to go, then followed her back into rentals, grabbed the equipment he'd set aside for himself earlier, and joined her in eating their lunch on the ride up the gondola. The afternoon ski practice was difficult, with losing the light early they only had until about four-thirty before they had to make their way down. Since it was the weekend, Bran joined them each day on his sit-ski, but was more than happy to be a little bit of extra encouragement for Gendry. All he seemed to hear from people, Meera the other day, and now Bran over the weekend, was how easily things seemed to come to Arya and how much they wanted her to lose. It was starting to wear thin on Gendry as he had plenty of time to think about things during each lift ride up, but he knew how much he wanted to win this bet.

 

He woke up early on Monday morning, meeting Meera for coffee and donuts at the Indigo express stand about twenty minutes before the first gondola would leave. They made excellent use of their first tracks early gondola privileges that came with flashing their employee badges and wearing their Winterfell gear. _It's a good thing Bran's not the jealous type, I think I'm spending more time with Meera than he's ever been able to_. They spent the morning practicing on Shadow Tower until about 11:30, getting in a solid three hours of run time. He was starting to feel more and more confident each day. It was surprising to him that Meera was such an excellent teacher yet stayed in rentals instead, but when he brought it up she simply replied that it was easier for her classes to have a set schedule. He grabbed a shower in the employee locker room before heading back to the rentals to work his shift with Meera. Monday night meant open mic night at Indigo, and while he knew Arya would be there, he also remembered that he still had another assignment to work on for Jaqen - a series of logos for different areas and attractions of the resort - which needed his attention. Meera claimed to be too tired and wasn't going to open mic tonight, and Bran had also said he had a physics final in the morning that he needed to cram for, so Gendry went with this better judgment, grabbing a coffee from Indigo and walking back to his apartment instead of staying.

 

**TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28TH**

"Anybody seen Arya?" Gendry asked, sitting down at the long table, joining Meera, Jeyne, and Hot Pie. Further down it looked like Jon and Ygritte were arguing back and forth about which pizza toppings they wanted, and next to them Sam sat, across from Gilly, the girl Gendry remembered him following around at the party. "I'm pretty sure she said she'd be here when she got done with lessons," he explained to them.

 

Tuesday had been yet another day with an early morning ski session with Meera, again catching first gondola and getting in first tracks, which was followed by an afternoon rentals shift. He'd felt a bit bad about spending all his time with Meera and ignoring Hot Pie and Jeyne and some of his other new friends, and when, at about one-thirty when Arya walked in with a gaggle of eight year olds behind her, he'd jokingly mentioned this to her while he helped a little boy try on boots, he was quickly invited out to dinner at Kneeling Man for pizza, with the promise of everyone being there.

 

"She's around here somewhere," Jeyne said as she slid her chair over to make room for Gendry and pushed some of the baskets of fries and cheese sticks closer to him.

 

"Yea, Gendry," Hot Pie chimed in. "I think I saw her grabbing darts from the game counter earlier when I went to go put another pizza order in. She's probably still over there, hustling some poor sap out of his hard-earned paycheck."

 

Gendry nodded, patting Hot Pie on the shoulder and grabbing a cheese stick out of the basket. "Well, if you'll excuse me then, I'm going to go on a search. Save some pizza for me, yea?" They murmured their agreement, and he headed towards what he assumed was the game counter, only since it had a small basket filled with darts that had been rubber banded together and air hockey pucks. From there he scanned over to the dart boards along the back wall. A few were taken, one by a couple clearly without darts actually on their minds, one by man who looked like he'd lived outside in the mountains for ten years, and the next one was Arya - alone, concentrating, and none the wiser that Gendry had every intention of sneaking up on her, which is what he did. He watched her throw all of her darts with surprisingly accuracy, and walked up behind her just as she was about he to throw the final one.

 

"So, skiing, wrangling eight year olds, music, and now darts. Is there anything that you're not good at?"

 

"Fucking hells!" she yelled, jumping and throwing her last dart at the target. It missed the bulls eye and hit the five instead. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to sneak up on people with sharp things?"

 

"Nope, 'fraid I was absent that day."

 

"Ugh, stupid," she replied, grabbing all of the darts out of the dartboard. She turned to walk back to the game counter and he followed next to her. "And yes, so you know, there's plenty of crap I'm bad at."

 

She passed the darts to the worker behind the counter, thanked him as he counted and rubber banded them up, and then leaned back against the counter and looked up at Gendry, still obviously a bit irritated.

 

"Yea? Like what?" Gendry asked.

 

"Gods, I dunno. Um, I almost failed chem lab junior year..." She ran a hand threw her hair, trying to think, then grabbed the hair tie from her wrist and pulled it up as she continued, "I'm horribly not punctual, I can't get past the gods damned snow world in Mario without Rickon's help... oh and I was cut from the field hockey team after one practice. So yea, definitely not perfect."

 

"That's fine," he replied, leaning back on the counter next to her, resting both her forearms on the top. "No one's perfect."

 

"Sansa is," she blurted out quickly, obviously not meaning to do so. Her eyes went wide as she looked over at him and clapped her hands over her mouth.

 

He'd met Sansa on numerous occasions by now, was more than comfortable to call her a friend, and was also more than convinced that the older Stark girl was by no means perfect. _Doesn't mean I'm going to contradict Arya though_ , he thought. _But there's a better way out of this._

 

"Is she?" He asked. Arya nodded. "Well, that's too bad then."

 

She turned towards him. "What do you mean?" she asked, curiosity plainly spelled out across her face.

 

"That's boring. I never much liked perfect. It's too predictable, there's no challenge." She wasn't smiling outright, but there was a change in her expression and he could tell it was for the better. "If you want a challenge, we should play pool." He took his wallet out of his back pocket and laid four quarters down in a neat stack on the dark wood counter. "My treat."

 

He watched as her eyes went from his, to the small stack of quarters, then back to him. "Man, I am the absolute worst at pool."

 

"Really? I suppose you don't want to play then, huh?" he said, putting his hand on the edge of the counter and pushing the quarters into it. He looked up when he saw her reach over and grab his hand with the quarters in it, open his fist up, and take the quarters away from him.

 

"I didn't say that I didn't like it, I just said I was bad at it. I'll play, but don't expect any real challenge from me."

 

"Well, why don't we make it worth something then?"

 

"Gods, no, not another bet."

 

Gendry walked over to the pool table, bending down to put the quarters in the coin slot. He was still tall enough to look up over the top of the table to where Arya stood at the other side. "Not at all what I was thinking." He got up, watching her eyes follow him as he walked to the wall of pool cues. "We used to play this version of pool back when I started at university. Rules are pretty simple. Each player poses a question before they take a turn and picks which pocket their target ball will go in. Ball goes in correctly, opponent answers the question and, of course, just like in a normal game, it's still your turn. Ball misses, goes in a different pocket, or a different ball goes in, then you answer your own question and it's your opponent's turn.

 

"Fine by me, I've got no secrets." She took a pool cue from him and began to chalk the end of it. "I might regret this, but you can break and go first. I don't think I've ever once gotten a ball in on the first try."

 

He lined up this first shot, breaking apart the balls and sinking in a striped ball, followed immediately after by a loud groan from Arya in the background.

 

"Alright, we'll start off easy - favorite bands. And none of that sad bastard stuff. What do you listen to when you're happy, okay?" She nodded her acceptance of the question. "Nine ball, corner pocket," he said, pointing with his pool cue towards the far corner, and then lined up his shot and sank the ball with no issues.

 

She thought for a second before answering. "You're gonna laugh, but Reel Big Fish, Rancid, anything with a good bassline and a trumpet. I do listen to other stuff than "sad bastard music," as you call it," she replied, resting the pool cue against her shoulder leaving her hands free for air quotes.

 

"Interesting," he answered as he walked around the corner of the pool table to where the white ball had landed. "I'd never have pegged you as a ska kid, I feel like I should ask where your checkerboard Vans are," he said, laughing a little bit to himself, but Arya didn't seem to mind, only blushing just slightly. "It's cool though. Kings Landing actually had quite the rude boy scene back in the day, and I may or may not have gone to some shows... Anyways, that was just the start. Questions are gonna get harder so... who was the last person you dated and why did you break up?" She rolled her eyes at his choice of question, watched him pick out the ball and sink it again like it was nothing.

 

"Ned Dayne," she answered quickly. "I was sixteen, he was seventeen. It was amazing while it lasted, but we're better friends than lovers," she paused, noticing the quick upturn of his head when she said that. "What? Does that bother you? I told you, I don't have any secrets and you're the one picking the questions. Now, go again. I'm sure you just can't wait to keep on beating me."  

 

The game managed to get a little more interesting after that. The position of the white ball left him without an easy shot, so he'd ended up answering his own question - the most embarrassing guilty pleasure music on his iPod was Duran Duran's Hungry Like The Wolf - and sending control of the game over to Arya, who laughed at his answer and said something jokingly about it being appropriate now that he's in the land of the direwolves.

 

In the end, Gendry managed to win the game, but there were more than a couple of shots which he purposely missed in order to answer his own questions, not feeling bad since he had a suspicious feeling she might have been doing the exact same thing. He found out she shared her sister's love of lemon cakes, and if she was abandoned on a deserted island she'd want an unlimited supply of ham pizza, orange soda, a hammock, her HP Lovecraft anthology, and sunscreen as her five items. He told her about his worst girlfriend, a graduate assistant named Shannon, whom he swore was the inspiration for Jet's Cold Hard Bitch, and how every year in university he went for Halloween as Marty McFly with one of his friends as Doc Brown.

 

"That was a closer game than I'd thought it was going to be," he said once they'd finished, walking over to join her on the other side of the table.

"Maybe you're not quite the pool shark you think you are," Arya remarked, holding out her hand and nodding towards the pool cue.

 

"Maybe you were just distracting me with your questions."

 

"Believe me," she started, walking over to return both cues to the wall holder, "I could think of much better questions if I'd actually wanted to distract you."

 

He turned to look at her as she found empty spots for each cue and snapped them into their holders, and raised his eyebrow suspiciously when she turned back towards him, but she just smiled, much more innocently than he knew she had intended her statement to be.

 

"It was a good game, I'll give you that. Much more entertaining than playing pool with Theon, that's for damn sure. I'd challenge you to a second game, but I've gotta head in and make sure I'm conscious enough to handle a bunch of first graders at 8am."

 

"Maybe I'll see you. Don't think I've forgotten about our bet. I'll be out practicing bright and early."

 

He watched as she picked up her messenger bag, putting it around her left shoulder. She'd already put on a large Wintertown Blizzards hockey team sweatshirt over the long sleeve UnderArmour top she wore, which must've been enough to beat the cold for someone born up here, it certainly wasn't enough for Gendry. _She has no idea of how attractive she looked in that,_ he thought. _Probably doesn't even give a second thought to the fact that it's skintight since it covers her wrist to neck_. She walked up until she was next to him and for a second he thought he might've said that out loud. "Oh, sweet summer child. You'll need a lot of practice," she said, putting her hand on the upper part of his arm, which he wasn't sure was supposed to be encouraging or discouraging. "Have a good night, Gendry."

 

**THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1ST**

The weather was awful. _It's like the gods don't want me to succeed._ It was windy, blisteringly cold, and the majority of the morning the mountain had been socked in by fog, often allowing him only a scant few yards of visibility for most of their trek up to the top of the run. There had been sunny skies almost every day that he had been practicing, bluebird days Sansa had called them the one morning she helped Meera out with him. He could only somewhat see that Arya and Bran were at the bottom of the run, waiting on the cat track, and really, as far as he could tell, it was just two human shapes. He had been surprised when Bran was already waiting in the Lodge for them earlier since it was a Thursday at noon, but he explained that once he'd heard that the ski bet date was set for today, he'd practically begged his mother to get them to switch his dentist's appointment from Friday to Thursday, leaving him free for the latter half of the day to watch Gendry make his sister swallow her own words.

 

"You've got this, Gendry. We've spent practically every minute we weren't working doing laps and you've really gotten loads better," Meera said. They'd gone up the gondola for lunch at the cafeteria in Castle Black Lodge and while he had been his normal self at first, he knew his nerves were starting to creep in when it was time to leave and meet Arya outside. _Apparently, Meera can tell too_ , he thought.

 

He spent the past week practicing with Meera so much that he'd been dreaming of this all week and hearing Meera and Bran's coaching and words of encouragement over and over in his head. _French fries, always french fries. Bend your knees. No, bend them more. Keep over the tips, shoulders down the hill._ Meera had seemed much more confident in his skills than Arya had on her first day with him, and despite having some reservations about this whole bet, had thrown herself wholeheartedly into helping him practice, even switching from her normal telemark bindings back to regular ones so her demonstrations would actually be pertinent. She'd enlisted as much help as she had been able to come up with, which quickly became very easy as the news of Gendry's bet with Arya spread like wildfire throughout the resort workers. _Best gossip they've heard yet this season_ , Meera had told him, and he was relieved to see that thankfully no one had called in sick to their shifts to watch his attempt at beating Arya. This was not a spectator sport.

 

Meera leaned over, putting her gloved hand on his shoulder. “Don't worry. A few short minutes and it'll all be over. You won't have to ski down any more runs at all this whole season if you choose not to.” He watched her give him a smile, one that he knew was showing her belief in him, then pull her goggles back on and make her way down the run towards Arya and Bran.

 

_She's right, Waters. You've got this, and besides, there's only one way off this godsforsaken mountain from where you are anyways, and that's down._

 

**ARYA STARK**

 

She stopped hard at the bottom of Widow's Wail, purposely close enough to Bran to hit him with snow as he sat in his sit-ski. She'd tried it once, out of curiosity, and spent half a morning toppling down the runs before she gave up and went back to the lockers to get her own skis. She stood there, barely able to make out Meera leaning over to say something to Gendry, and then watched her make her way, just as skillfully as she always was, down to the side of the flat cat track and stopping next to them.

 

"Think your last words of advice are really gonna help him, Meera? I've seen him ski before and I'm pretty sure we might need to call patrol after this," Arya said.

 

"Oh, just told him not to worry. All he needs to do is concentrate, you'll see." Meera had a nonchalant look her face as she spoke, but since she hadn't pushed her goggles off yet Arya was having a hard time deciphering the meaning behind it. “Besides, I've seen him ski before too, and a lot more recently than you have.”

 

A second later, Meera had picked up her ski poles and waved them over her head, followed by the small form of Gendry uphill doing the same and then pushing off.

 

Arya was leaning forward on her poles with Meera on her left and Bran to her right, looking back and forth between the smug smiles on both of their faces and the figure of Gendry getting closer and closer to her coming down the run. _He hasn't fallen yet. He's not being aggressive and he's taking it a bit slow for that pitch, but he's in control._ She watched him turn after turn, carefully winding his way down the run, skis practically parallel except for some of the left side turns. She was holding her breath and both Bran and Meera must've been too, because at about the halfway point they watched Gendry go past where it looked like he would turn, sliding a little bit on an icy patch which sent him into a bit of deeper, ungroomed powder on the side of the run, all three of them inhaled sharply and audibly, waiting for a crash they thought was inevitable. No longer leaning on her skis, Arya was standing as straight up in her boots as they allowed, watching in disbelief as he firmly planted his right pole down and turned, an awful, wobbly, first day on skis pizza turn, but a turn nonetheless, which got him back out to the area to the left of the far side of the run, then continued to make the same turns he had in the beginning.

 

_What in the seven hells is happening_ , she thought as she watched him coming closer and closer. _Wait a second, I didn't even give him gods damned poles at his lesson_. Bran and Meera began to cheer loudly as he adeptly made his way to where she was waiting and stopped, fully in control, just short of her.

 

It wasn't often that Arya Stark was genuinely speechless.

 

**GENDRY WATERS**

 

“Come on, after that display I think I deserve to take the gondola back down. Plus, we've need to talk about my prize for winning," Gendry said, skating beside Arya on the flat green that led back to the gondola midway point.

 

“Fine, fine. Since no one else is waiting, then I suppose we can take the gondola down,” Arya said. Bran and Meera congratulated him once again and said they'd see him later at Kneeling Man for some celebratory pizza with Jeyne and Hot Pie, before heading towards some of the runs that led over to Eastwatch. He followed Arya over to the gondola loading station, popping their skis off at the small area of flat ground.

 

"I'm not entirely sure how you pulled that off. Last week you were tripping over your skis on Maiden's Voyage and now..." she looked up and him and gestured wildly with her hands. "You do have a job _and_ an internship at Baratheon, right? I can't believe there were enough hours in the past week for you to improve that much. I really don’t wanna say this… but it _was_ pretty impressive…" she said. He'd been working on loosening up his boots, but when he heard the genuine surprise in Arya's voice, he looked back up at Arya and smiled when he caught her eyes. _You know_ , he thought, _I think I really like being on the receiving end of her smiles almost as much as her rants. She's just as frustratingly pretty when she's being nice as she as when she's furious._

 

“…ya know, for a beginner,” she added, looking back down at her knees.

 

“Well, you never said I couldn't get help from anyone else, did you?” He asked. “I don't remember there being too many terms and conditions that went along with this wager of ours.”

 

Her head whipped back up quicker than he could've imagined was possible.

 

“What? If you cheated then…”

 

“I did not cheat,” he laughed. “Besides, how would I have even cheated? Do you think I hired someone to dress like me and ski down, then switched places when you weren't looking?”

 

“No, obviously not. I'm not stupid. I just don't get how you did that, is all.”

 

“Well, I practiced. A lot. Shit, I mean, I probably spent almost all my free time this past week practicing with Meera and Bran. You live with him, I'm surprised you didn't know about it. Even Sansa came out for a morning to help.”

 

“I don’t keep tabs on Bran, I’m not his mother... and I especially don't keep tabs on Sansa, that's for damn sure,” Arya spat back at him. “Still, it's really not fair that you practiced with Meera, she's been coming up here since I can remember. She’s almost as good as I am.”

 

“’Still’ nothing, Arya Stark. I practiced my ass off, I'll have you know, and I won this bet fair and square. Try and deny it all you want, but you lost. That’s all there is to it.”  

 

“Gods, you really don’t give up, do you? Must really want to win this bet pretty bad.”

 

“That's for damn sure,” he said, finally relaxing his posture and setting back against the bench seat. “Mostly since now I've been given the pleasure to ask anything of you.”

 

“Fine, let's get this over with. Ask away,” Arya said, gesturing to the space in the gondola cabin, as if to show that he could ask her anything, then she leaned back, stretching out against the back of the bench, hands behind her helmet-covered head, and propped her legs up to the right side of him. “I'm sure I can deal with whatever your dumb ass can think up.” Despite her words, he could tell by the playful tone in her voice and she was willing to go along with this. She wasn't actually upset and he was thankful about that.

 

“Well, if you're so sure, then I'll see you this Saturday evening – we're going on a date,” he announced with a sly grin on his face, just as the gondola started to slow at the bottom and detach at the loading station. “I'll pick you up at your house at six-thirty sharp.”

 

He stepped off the gondola to grab his skis, watching Arya stare slack-jawed at him from back inside the gondola.

 

“Oh, and Arya… one more thing,” he started to say as he picked his skis up and threw them over his shoulder. “You'll need to wear a dress.”

 

He looked over his shoulder to see Arya fumbling with her poles as the gondola operator helped her out and asked her if she was okay.

 

He would've loved to walk back into the village with Arya, but he had a sinking feeling that asking her on a date, a real date, would throw her for a loop, so he decide to walk back to the rental office and return his skis to the employee rental lockers by himself and quick changes back into street clothes in back room. He knew he should be tired from the week's worth of practice and the better idea was to take the bus back to the employee village, he just couldn't make himself. He was too wound up, way too excited. When Arya had first challenged him last weekend he was as confident as he could be, he had to be. _If I show the smallest hint of self doubt she'll eat me alive,_ he'd thought. _I was a little bit afraid at first that asking for the help of Arya's brother to try and get a date would be the worst idea ever, but Bran has turned out to be not so much an over protective brother, but an understanding one. It probably doesn't hurt that not everyone really understands what the relationship between him and Meera is._

 

Gendry made his way back outside and started on the walk home, soon taking his phone out and shooting a text to the group of friends that had helped.

 

Group Text: Meera Reed, Bran Stark, Hot Pie

It worked! I can't believe it but it worked! Date night set for Saturday.

 

Text from: Hot Pie

Awesome! Celebration dinner at Kneeling Man still? 7pm?

 

Text from: Meera Reed

Glad our practice paid off :) I'll def be there for dinner.

 

Text from: Bran Stark

I can't. Mom's making dinner (gods help us all) and she wants us here. I can't wait to see what Arry is like tonight.

 

Text from: Bran Stark

Oh crap. Just hear the front door. And yelling. Gen, you're the best, man.

 

All he could do was laugh as he read Bran's last text, meaning that Arya must've gone straight home from the village. Gendry could feel a huge smile on his face as he walked back to his apartment. Halfway there, he stopped at light to wait for traffic and watch a young couple walk by hand in hand, when he realized he had no clue at all what he was going to do with Arya, and the even bigger issue was that it was only two days away. He fished his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed the first person he could think of.

 

"Meera... we've got a problem..."


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

**FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2nd**

**SANSA STARK**

_This is it_ , Sansa thought as she sat at the kitchen table in her apartment waiting for Arya to show up. _Somehow I've managed to get myself into the position of having to take my wildling of a baby sister out dress shopping. If Jeyne, or Meera, or even Ygritte had asked me go with them I'm sure it'd be enjoyable, but now I've got to prepare myself for an afternoon of arguing and scathing sarcasm. I'd rather go back to the gym and listen to Sandor complain about how someone didn't put the barbells back in the correct order... at least he never shows up late._

 

It was true. They'd agreed that Arya would come the by the apartment at two that afternoon, after she finished a private lesson earlier that morning. She'd sworn over and over that it would give her enough time to shower, change out of her ski clothes and get to there after her lesson and lunch with Jon. Sansa looked up at the clock on the far wall of the galley kitchen - one of those black cat clocks with the swinging pendulum tail. It was currently twenty-five minutes past two. Just as she was about to get up from the table and make herself another cup of tea, Sansa heard her cell phone buzz.

 

Text from: Arya

Running late. There in five.

 

_Guess I'll make that tea in a travel mug._

 

Jeyne had to work the afternoon shift that day so she had left her car for Sansa to take so they could go shopping for the dress Gendry had asked her to wear. There was nowhere in the village that would do, unless you wanted to buy down jackets or hoodies with the Winterfell logo on them. Luckily, about twenty miles outside of Wintertown was Tyrell Outlets, a large outlet mall that carried all the popular brands, not only the fancy Tyrell-owned stores. It was the closest thing to a shopping mall that they had close by, the next being in Torrhen's Square. _If you could actually call that a mall,_ Sansa thought. As much as Sansa did not want to go anywhere that had to do with Margaery Tyrell, for she still had the small fear of running into the girl, she'd be lying if she said that her designs weren't gorgeous. Most of them were very fashion forward and often light and flowy - totally out of place for what you needed in the North, but the people that wanted to vacation at Winterfell seemed to need some place to shop and spend their money on the days they weren't skiing and the Tyrells were more than happy to give them that opportunity. There were even a couple shuttle busses that ran between the resort and the mall every few hours.

 

_As much as I am preparing myself for the worst for this shopping trip, I’m really glad that Arya actually agreed to go on the date with Gendry. He’s really tried so hard to get her to warm up to him and, whether she’ll admit it to herself or not, they’ll probably work out really well together,_ Sansa thought. _Despite the odd sort of relationship she had with Ned while they were dating it did make her seem really happy and it’d be good to see her like that again._

 

Arya was on time the second time around. Almost exactly five minutes after her text she knocked and then opened the door, letting herself into Sansa's apartment.

 

“Hey, sorry I’m late, Sans,” she said, standing in the doorway in a large burgundy hoodie, knit beanie that Sansa recognized as one that Nan had knitted for her ages ago, tight black jeans, and her standard clompy grey snow boots and worn out backpack slung over her left shoulder. Surprisingly enough, the hoodie and the beanie were matching, which was more than she was usually known to accomplish. “I stopped by the condo to change and once I told mom about the date and that you were taking me shopping for a dress I was stuck playing twenty fucking questions for the next half hour. Oh, and then she mentioned she’d _already known_ about the date since this morning when you had breakfast together, so thanks for that,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “Whatever, though. You’ve probably been ready to go for like forty minutes, yea?”

 

“Yea, I've been ready, and you should already know that I have breakfast with mom most Friday mornings. She asked what I was up to today so I told her. You’ll be happy to know that she was so excited that she gave me this,” Sansa announced, opening up her wallet and holding up the Bank of Westeros Express black card with Catelyn Stark stamped on the bottom for Arya to see. She watched Arya’s eyes go big and round, her jaw slacking a little bit just at the sight of it. Catelyn almost never gave them her card without having a very good reason, which was usually some sort of family gift for someone, so this was definitely out of the ordinary, but neither sister complained. She could almost see little cartoon dollar signs and money bags appearing in Arya's eyes, as she probably got to thinking of a million things she'd rather spend money on than a dress. “Alright, let’s get going. Jeyne’s car is right out front and I hit the remote start when you texted. It'll be nice and toasty.”

___________

 

After a few hours of what could barely be called shopping, they found themselves in the last store they hadn't looked through yet. Neither had bought any outfits, with the only purchases so far, a giant cookie and a Gatorade, having been made by Arya out of her own pocket. Arya had spent most of the time saying no to the dresses that Sansa picked out before she even tried them on, and most of the ones she tried on she refused to come out of the dressing room in. _It doesn't help that she didn't even wear proper underwear,_ Sansa thought to herself, frustrated, albeit still somewhat amused at her baby sister. _It took all the willpower I had not to laugh out loud at her when she walked out of the dressing room in a strapless cocktail dress and a bright blue sports bra. No wonder nothing looks proper. Did she think we were going for a run?_

 

Arya was in the dressing room at the store that had ended up as their second-to-last resort, the real last resort being Sansa’s closet, scissors, and her sewing machine. This store was one of Sansa's favorites and she knew if she was shopping for herself she'd already have a pile of clothes behind the checkout counter waiting for her. Instead, she found herself pacing back and forth, up and down the hallway in the changing rooms. _Why am I so nervous? It's not my date. Arya will only be ruining it for herself if she doesn't find anything to wear._ As much as they were at each other's throats, Sansa still didn't want to see Arya mess this up.

 

"You know, Arya," Sansa found herself saying, "I hope you'll actually give this date with Gendry a chance."

 

"I guess," Arya casually answered from inside the changing room.

 

"I'm serious, Arya. I told you about how I met him the other night, at dinner with Jeyne at Hot Pie's apartment, before Jon's party. He and Hot Pie are roommates in the employee housing. He's been trying to make it better. You do realize that? He even got help from Bran for the open mic night thing. So it seems you've got yourself quite the admirer."

 

"Gods, does everyone know?"

"Yes, well, I got grilled at Hot Pie's that night about how to impress you. Hot Pie told me afterwards that Gendry was actually considered buying you flowers and chocolates."

 

"You're lying! He was not."

 

"Yes, he was. I said he'd be better off giving the flowers and chocolate to me and just talking to you like a normal person," she replied, laughing a bit. Another lady walked into the changing rooms now and took a vacant room across from Arya. Sansa realized she was still pacing and finally stopped, sitting down on a bench on the other side of Arya's room, leaning her head against the wall. "I know you don't like to listen to mom and me and that you think we're trying to run your life, but I really do hope you give Gendry a fair shot. Bran said you even finally apologized to him about going off on him at the party. He seems very genuine about his feelings for you, whatever they are. And even you have to admit that he is quite attractive. I suggested he meet with Sandor at the gym when he said it had been almost two weeks since he'd worked out...." she trailed off a bit. It was a little odd that Arya let her talk for so long without butting in.

 

"Arya, are you still listening to me?" Sansa asked, mostly annoyed with a slight tinge of worry.

 

"Ugh, yes, I am. It's just this dress. I don't think I can wear this. It looks like I'm playing dress up."

"Okay, well, get on out here," Sansa said, getting up from the bench and walking over to the closed door between her and Arya. "Let's see."

 

Arya barely cracked open the door and poked her head out. When she caught Sansa's gaze she reluctantly pushed the door the rest of the way open.

 

"See?" Arya shrugged, "It's awful, isn't it? What am I going to do? I've pretty much tried on every fucking dress in the whole damn country," she said, folding her arms across her chest and making an angry pouting face.

 

Sansa stepped back and gave her sister quick look. Truthfully, it wasn't an ugly dress. It was a steely blue-grey color that immediately made her think of how horribly it would clash with her own skin tone and fiery hair, but she was amazed that it went so well with Arya’s dark brown hair, matched her grey eyes, and managed to even look good against her skin, paler than usual now that it was winter. It covered her shoulders and had a high round neckline, draped almost delicately across her chest, and there was a long open slit down the front, from neck to just above her belly button. A decorative golden metal buckle brought two pieces of fabric together right below where the slit ended, it managed to make her waist look tiny even for Arya. The bottom half was gathered and ruched up both sides and while on most people it would've been much shorter, it hit Arya just above the knee. _It actually looks very flattering except… hmm…,_ Sansa thought. _Something is still wrong here…_

 

"Okay, first things first, you need to stop slouching. It makes you look like you have no confidence in yourself or in the dress."

 

"That's because I don't," Arya grumbled under her breath. It was quiet enough in the changing room that Sansa was more than able to understand her.

 

"Shush," Sansa snapped back. "I know you have enough confidence for yourself, me, Bran, half the resort, and then some to spare," she said as she stepped closer, pulled Arya's hands down to her sides and put her hand palm first on her sister's lower back and forced her to stand up straight. "There. Much better. And... Arya Stark! You've got ski socks on still! Of course it looks like you’re playing dress up. You're not gonna go on the date wearing SmartWool socks..."

 

She left Arya standing there with a huff, and left the dressing room to find a store clerk. There was a young girl standing cautiously outside of the dressing room.

 

"Is everything okay, miss? I thought I heard some yelling," the girl asked.

"We're perfectly fine, thank you. My dear sister forgot to bring heels with her. You don't happen to have some she could borrow? Size seven."

 

"Just one moment." The girl quickly returned with a pair of gold metallic heels, probably with a good four inch heel on them if Sansa had to guess.

"Thank you so much," Sansa said, taking the shoes in hand.

 

"No worries. This type of thing happens all the time. Let me know if you need anything else."

 

Sansa walked back in and sat the shoes on the floor in front of Arya, who had sat down on the bench in the hallway. "Here, put these on."

 

Arya took her socks off, folded them into a ball, and tossed them back in the changing room, then slipped her feet into the shoes. She walked slowly over to the three-paneled mirror at the end of the hallway and stepped up on the little platform, clenching her fists and screwing her eyes shut.

 

"Alright, Sans, give me the bad news. I can take it."

 

"It's perfect. Geez, Arya, are your eyes closed? You look amazing."

 

She watched Arya straighten up, narrow her eyes, and really take a good look at herself in the mirror.

 

After a few long moments, Arya finished released a long breath. "Okay, okay. I'll agree to this one. It does look good, and not even just compared to everything else we tried."

 

"Really?" Sansa asked excitedly. "This is it?"

 

Arya nodded in agreement.

 

"Yay, awesome!" She squealed and gave Arya a hug, excitedly rocking her side to side.

 

“Alright, alright, let me go,” Arya said. “It’s just a first date outfit, not Say Yes to the Dress or whatever show it is you and Jeyne watch, so chill out a bit, ‘kay?”

 

Sansa let her out of the hug, but kept on planning. "Very funny, Arya. But this _is_ exciting. Anyways, we'll need the shoes too. I've seen what you have at home and you can't wear your motorcycle boots with this, and all my shoes are a size too big for you.”

 

"What? How am I supposed to walk? I'll fall all over," Arya protested as she made her way back to the changing room, walking slightly tipsy, which Sansa attributed to her reluctance to wear the heels. She had walked just fine over to the mirrors the first time, but Sansa decided not to mention that. "If you haven't noticed yet everything outside is covered in snow and ice."

 

"Oh, I'm sure you can ask Gendry to carry you if you really can't make it. I bet he won't mind and, besides, you weigh like a hundred pounds at most."

 

That was the end of that disagreement. Arya conceded that she would get the shoes and went to change back into her regular clothes. Sansa waited around long enough for Arya to pass the dress and shoes through a crack in the door, then went to the counter to pay for it. Her mother had been so excited when she found out that Arya had a date with a "nice young man" that she gladly handed over her credit card to that morning at her breakfast date with Sansa, no questions asked. _Well, except a for a few questions about Gendry_ , Sansa thought, _but even mom was a bit impressed that he had one of the coveted Baratheon internship spots._ They grabbed coffees from the food court before heading back home, something they could both actually agree upon.

 

The first part of the drive home, both sisters were pretty quiet. Arya had went through the music on her iPhone until she'd found something that they both could listen to and then sat back in the passenger seat and watched the scenery.

 

"I've been thinking about what you said," Arya said out of nowhere between songs. "I may have been too hard on Gendry at the party.”

 

Sansa couldn't help but laugh at that. "Oh, you think so? He stood there shocked and then walked back over to Hot Pie like you'd stolen his favorite teddy bear."

 

"Yea, yea, I know that now and that's why I apologized in the gondola after his lesson and it's why I'll give him a chance. Why does everyone think I’m such a bitch?" she replied. Sansa glanced over at her and could see her chewing on her lower lip and knew it was better to not answer Arya’s question. _She's nervous. She’s going to ask me something she really doesn't want to._

 

"So…," Arya started again, a few seconds later. "You said you had dinner with Gendry… I was sort of wondering what you knew about him. I mean, we did talk on the lifts and in the gondola... and then Jon and Ygritte joined us for lunch, so I know about stuff like what music he likes... and we actually did have a pretty fun game of pool the other night... but it seems a little weird to go on a date with someone that I really don’t know anything about, doesn’t it?”

 

“I know a bit about him but not that much, definitely less than you. Everyone noticed you two the other night, by the way,” Sansa replied. “If you really want to get this information maybe you should talk to Hot Pie… or no. Ya know what, better yet, just talk to Gendry tomorrow night on your date. I know it's been awhile since you dated Ned Dayne but this is how regular people usually get to know the person they're going on a date with, by talking to them. By giving them a proper chance.”

 

"Is that how you got to know Sandor? Have you given him a proper chance yet, dear sister?"

 

Sansa could feel the sarcasm dripping off Arya's question in her "dear sister" remark and suddenly felt as if she had been thrown over to the defensive side of the conversation. _Why do conversations with Arya always need to end up like this? I’m not even trying to argue with her. This really was going so well._ She gritted her teeth together then took a deep breath, trying not to say some rash.

 

"You know nothing about our relationship. I admit that I have feelings for Sandor, but he'd never want to date me, so what's the point?" _I should probably know better than to talk to Arya about him, but if that’s what she wants to bond over, then fine, no real secrets here._

 

"Are you so sure about that? Maybe he's just as nervous as you are," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing there was, then grabbed her coffee for another sip.

 

_Okay now_ , Sansa thought to herself. _Does Arya sound helpful? Concerned?_

 

“Nervous? Are you sure we’re talking about the same person? Sandor. Sandor Clegane. You know, big guy, lots of muscles, about six and a half feet tall. He doesn’t get nervous, have you seen him?”

 

“I’ve seen him,” she replied confidently. “Have you? I mean, really seen him? How he looks at you? I know everyone else invited him to come to Jon’s party, but why did he come? _For you_. Seven hells, Sansa, he dropped his whole life and moved a thousand miles away to the frozen North because you asked him too. You can tell yourself all about how he has no family he’s close to and no ties in Kings Landing, and while I’m sure that’s part of it, but he had a plush fucking job for the Baratheons and he left it. _For you_.”

 

Sansa continued driving, saying nothing and thinking over what her sister had said. "I know, Arry," she finally answered. "Believe me, no one knows better than I do how much he's done for me. And I'm so tired, I really am, of this tip-toeing around each other all the time. Gods, I feel like I'm stuck in a never-ending chick-flick, never getting to the 'girl finally gets boy' ending, just stuck this awful loop of unresolved sexual tension and hidden stares."

 

"What's the worst that could happen?"Arya asked.

 

"...you mean if I just up and tell him how I feel?"

 

"Yea," Arya replied, looking at Sansa as she stopped at a red light. "Just meet him at the gym right as his shift is done, walk right up to him and go, 'Sandor, I loved you for years, now please, take me back to your apartment and make me yours!'"

 

"For the record, that was the worst impression of me I've ever heard. You should talk to Hot Pie, his Sansa Stark impression is top notch," she began. "And the worst that could happen? Well, he could outright reject me, laugh in my face, quit his job at Winterfell leaving poor Jeyne to search for another trainer, move back to Kings Landing, and I'd never see him again."

 

Arya didn't say anything back after a few seconds, so Sansa glanced over, only to see her sister with her arms folded across her chest giving her a look at effectively said she wasn't having any of it.

 

"Okay, so maybe that was a bit exaggerated..." Sansa said.

 

"Oh yes, just a little," Arya laughed. "There's no way he's leaving here. With what you've said about what it was like for him to work for Cersei, I can't see how he'd ever think that was an option. You won't know this is going to go until you talk to him, it doesn't make sense to sit around and think of what could go wrong."

 

"I'll.... I'll try, alright?"

 

"Alright," Arya agreed, grabbing her coffee out of the cup holder for another sip.

 

Arya must've known when enough was enough, since she quickly changed the subject after that, talking about the restaurant Hot Pie was working in and the plans she'd heard of for some new tasting menu. About five minutes later, Sansa pulled up in the driveway of their parents' condo to drop off Arya. Sansa reached into the backseat to grab her purse, and handed the credit card to her.

 

"Not coming in?"

 

"No, I can't. I have to get the car back to Jeyne. She's got a date or... something or other with Theon tonight. I was thinking of heading to the gym and then some dinner... and if I go in and mom gets a hold of me, I'll be here all night. Make sure you give mom her card back, though."

 

She waited for Arya to open the rear door to get her dress and shoes, but was surprised, jumping back a bit, when she heard her knock on the driver side window.

 

"I mean it, Sansa," Arya said once the window was rolled down. "Talk to him. Don't make this into a regret."

 

"Fine, fine, I will. Just... gods, stop nagging me about it and get inside before Mom thinks I'm staying too."

 

Arya rolled her eyes and turned to stomp through the snowy front yard, holding the dress bag above her head as far as her arm would reach so it didn't drag in the snow. Sansa shook her head as she through the car into reverse to back out. They'd both been equally horrible to each other when they were younger, _especially back in middle school_ , Sansa thought. _But if days like this mean we are finally coming to an understanding of each other, I'll gladly take the little bickering moments... and I'll gladly take her advice_. She smiled to herself as she drove away, thinking of what it'd be like to confess to Sandor. "Not tonight, though," she added out loud. "Just... not tonight."


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, apparently I'm a horrible person that waits a year before updating a story. Oops. This chapter has been in the works for a while, and I wanted to update with something, so I figured I'd split it in half at an okay spot.

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

**SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3**

**ARYA STARK**

 

“Sansa!”

 

No response. Arya was clad in the dress that she and Sansa had bought yesterday afternoon for her, still no shoes on her feet yet, hair a mess, hurrying back and forth between the hallway, her bedroom, then the bathroom attached between her room and Rickon's, and back out to the hallway again. She looked over the railing to the large decorative wall clock in the living room and saw she only had fifteen minutes until Gendry was supposed to arrive. _Seriously, Sansa, where are you when I need you? You promised you’d help me get ready for this._

 

“Sansa!” Arya yelled, louder this time, while hanging as far as she could over the railing looking down to the first floor. “Gendry’s gonna be here in like, fifteen minutes and my hair’s a fucking mess! Get up here and help… um, please?” she added politely, hoping it'd help.

 

“Language, Arya Stark!” she heard her mom yell from downstairs.

 

As soon as she yelled sorry down to Catelyn, she heard Sansa coming around the corner. “I’m coming, I’m coming. Gosh, Arry, hold on a minute, it can’t that ba— Oh. Sweet Mother, what’d you do to yourself? ” Sansa asked, stopping just short of running into Arya, but stopped herself in time. She ran her hand quickly through Arya’s hair before grabbing her arm and pulling her back into the bathroom. “I only left you alone long enough to get dressed. Did you put your finger in an electrical socket?"

 

“Is it that bad?” Arya sat down on the cushy chair that was still kept in front of the vanity from back when the adjoining room was Sansa’s instead of Rickon’s and took a look at her hair. _I don’t know how I messed this up. All I tried to do was curl it and try to make it look nice... but I look more like Rickon after that one time he got lost in the Wolfswood for three days and mom got the round brush stuck in his hair afterwards._

 

“It is pretty bad, but no worries, I’ve got this covered. Hand me that round brush over there, the hairspray, and the curling iron. Oh, good, good, it’s still hot,” Sansa said, cracking her knuckles as Arya made quick work of handing her what she needed. She felt like she was becoming the assistant to a surgeon. “Alright, little sister, time to watch me make the magic happen.”

 

**GENDRY WATERS**

 

Gendry was almost positive that he’d never been this nervous in his entire life. He’d listened to Meera, Bran, Hot Pie, Jeyne, most of his coworkers, a stranger in the grocery store who'd overheard the name 'Arya,' and everyone else that had wanted to give him advice. They all said almost the same thing, verbatim – Arya Stark is _not_ a romantic. She doesn’t want flowers, or chocolates, or pomp and circumstance. Her idea of an ideal date was low-key and laid back, watching a B-science fiction movie about killer tomatoes or zombies, a plateful of Meereenese takeout resting on her knees, listening to Joy Division albums on vinyl, and drinking some sort of trendy small batch beer, that’s what Jeyne had told him. _Maybe take her for a moonlight tromp through the woods on snowshoes, but that’s as romantic as you can get with that one_. Gendry trusted Jeyne, she’d known Arya for all her life and believed her when she said that was what Arya would plan for a perfect date. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy crappy old movies about alien invasions, takeout, and he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t worn out his cassette copy of the Unknown Pleasures album in high school, but something about that plan didn't seem right to him.

 

 _I’m aiming to be different_ , he told himself, adjusting his tie one last time. _To be the one that stands out. Tonight, Arya Stark is going to be wooed, wined and dined, and shown the best ridiculously over the top date that I can arrange on two and a half days’ worth of notice. I can’t let her see that I’m nervous. I think I've texted and been on my phone in the past 48 hours than I have in the past ten years._

 

He reminded himself that he had thought of everything. He was, after all, currently riding down the snowy streets of the Winterfell Resort in a horse-drawn carriage to pick her up. Since he’d arrived at the resort he’d seen the carriages taking people around the streets during the day and thought it would be the perfect way to let Arya know that this date would be different right from the start, as if asking her to wear a dress hadn't alerted her to that already.

 

The carriage driver stopped in front of the Stark’s condo a few minutes before six-thirty and Gendry pushed open the half door on the side, walked the seemingly long fifty feet up to the front door, and rang the bell. After a few seconds, he heard two sets of footsteps, one running towards the door, one at a normal pace, both followed by a man’s voice just inside the door.

 

“Alright there, mister, you go back to your dinner before it gets cold. I’ll get the door,” the voice said as the door opened, and he quickly recognized Ned Stark from a few days ago and saw a boy skidding around a corner on socked feet back to what must be their dining room.

 

“Evening, Mr. Stark. I’m Gendry Waters, here to pick up Arya.” He quickly and confidently shook Ned’s hand, who for some reason had a dumbfounded look on his face as he looked him up and down. _Why is he giving me that look? Did she not tell them I’d be picking her up? Oh, man, can he see the carriage outside?_

 

“Nice to meet you, Gendry. Arya’s told me about you and your internship at Baratheon, but now that I look at you, I can’t exactly place it but you look very familiar. You’re originally from Kings Landing, correct?”

 

“Correct, sir,” he answered as Ned led him into the foyer. “Maybe you’ve seen me there? I used to wait tables at Meraxes in the financial district and I was a valet for a while at one of the fancier hotels downtown.”

 

“That’s probably it. Robert did always like to eat at Meraxes every chance he got. Always said it had the best boar in town,” he agreed. “And cut it out with the ‘sir’ crap. Makes me feel old. Ned’s fine, or Mr. Stark if you must. But anyways, where is that daughter of mine? Arya?” he called up the open staircase, “Gendry is here to pick you up. It’s not nice of you to keep him waiting.”

 

In an instant, they heard a door open and shut and then Sansa quickly ran down the stairs, long coppery hair flying out behind her, in black flared yoga pants with an oversized baby blue sweater hanging off her shoulders, more casually dressed than Gendry had ever seen her.

 

“She’ll be down in three seconds, I promise,” Sansa said, standing by her dad. “Come on, dad, let’s go back into the dining room and finish eating before dinner gets cold. I’m sure you’ve intimidated Gendry quite enough for one evening. Not only are you his boss but now he’s taking out your youngest daughter,” Sansa continued jokingly. She threaded her arm through Ned’s and led him back to the kitchen. She stopped for a second to wink at Gendry and said, “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. You look very nice.”

 

Once he was left alone in the foyer, he’d wished that Sansa and her father had stuck around those last couple of moments, maybe he would’ve made some small talk with Ned for a minute or two, mostly about the weather and how he was fitting in with his internship and job, but when he heard the clack of high heels against hardwood floor and looked up to see Arya coming down the stairs he was glad it was only him.

 

He didn’t need Sansa having the ability to gossip to everyone at the resort about the awestruck look he knew he had… and he certainly didn’t need her father recognizing the distinct look of sheer want plastered across his face.

 

She was two rungs from the bottom when he saw her roll her eyes at him, and he realized she was aware of the look on his face. “Are you ready to go, or did you wanna stand there at ogle me for a little while longer?”

 

“Sorry, it’s just…” he started. _Come on, Waters. Tell her how beautiful she is, you can do this_. “I guess I’ve just never seen you with so little clothes on.”

 

He internally winced as the words left his mouth, but Arya didn’t seem to notice the lack of compliment. It was true though. Most of the time it was jeans and some sort of hoodie, or snow pants and a ski jacket. She had worn those bright red shorts at Jon’s party, but this was different. This was clingy grey fabric, not making Gendry’s imagination work very hard. This was a skirt that was holding on for dear life to the outline of strong legs that were made to look even longer thanks to a ridiculous pair of heels. This was a high neckline with a deep plunge from clavicle to navel between her breasts, and he quickly realized there was no way she had a bra on under it.

 

"Shit, you’re right. I can't wear my ski jacket with this...." she said, looking around the foyer in nervously. “Mom! Can I borrow your nice coat? I know you wouldn't want me to wear my ratty ski jacket with this nice new dress."

 

Almost immediately, Mrs. Stark answered from the dining room. "Of course, Arya. It's in the hall closet like usual. Just be careful with it, it’s dry clean only.” There was a pause for a second. “You know, sweetie, maybe we should come in there and take some pictures of you and Gendry in front of the firep—“

 

“Nope, sorry, mom,” she interrupted and starting pushing Gendry at the door. “Gotta go.”

 

**ARYA STARK**

 

_I cannot believe he picked me up at my house in a horse and fucking carriage. Did Sansa put him up to this?_

 

“So,” Arya started, getting seated and settled in the back of the carriage. Her mother’s coat was long on her and heavy as well, dark black with a reddish colored fur around on the collar. She almost had to ask for help maneuvering up the steps to the carriage with it on. “Did someone tell you that I was into this type of thing? Because if so, you’ve been lied to.”

 

 _Well, not fully lied to_ , she thought. _Getting to see Gendry look ridiculously hot in a suit is something I could definitely be into._ He might’ve unaware of how obvious his eye-fucking was when he saw her walk down the stairs, but she knew how to keep hers under wraps.

 

“Actually no, I wasn’t lied to. I was told that this was a horrible idea and you’d rather get takeaway, watch a movie with really awful special effects, and listen to late 70s punk rock. I thought this would be much more memorable.”

 

“Oh, I’ll _definitely_ remember it,” Arya said, and immediately saw Gendry cock one of his eyebrows up as he entered the carriage, wondering the actual meaning of what she’d just said. She smirked when she realized the only place for him to sit was a cozy spot on the bench next to her. “That is, ugh, I mean… I’ve just never had someone plan this much for me. I didn’t even have a graduation party. Like I said, it’s not really my scene, ya know?”

 

“It’s not mine, either, but I thought we could make it fun. Plus, I actually want to get to know you, that’s why I decided I’d ask you out if I won the bet, and it’s a lot easier to do that with what I’ve got planned.”

 

“Okay, I’ll play along, Gendry Waters. Arya Stark is more than happy to play pretend with you on our fancy first date.”

 

“Oh, if you think this is fancy, you just wait.” He had a smug look on his face which made her nervous about what he had planned next. The carriage took a turn at the end of Arya's side street, heading towards the resort, which didn't surprise her. Another turn, and the ride took them through the main village.

 

 _What is this? It's Saturday frickin' evening and he's got the driver taking us through the square... with the fountain, and weirwood trees, and everyone and their mum at the ice skating rink. I'm never gonna hear the end of this at work on Monday._ She noticed him looking over at the ice skating rink, which was full of people as usual on a Saturday night. The temperature was hovering just below freezing, perfect weather to bring people out to skate. It was a lively evening in the square, more so than Arya had seen yet this season, with people not only at the rink but also groups sitting around the large fire pits off to the side. As usual, the trees were all decorated with white lights. A number of pop-up stands selling hot chocolate, beaver tails, or Winterfell’s ubiquitous maple syrup on a stick had groups of people lined up in front of them.

 

"They're all staring at us," Arya said, barely above a whisper.

 

"Us? With the way you look tonight I doubt they've even noticed I'm here,” he explained. “Why are looking at me like that? You know look amazing, don’t you?”

 

“What?”

 

“You do. I’m sure the way I was staring earlier gave it away though. Sorry about that, by the way. I should’ve told you instead of just staring. You probably hate it, but thanks for playing along and dressing up for tonight.”

 

She knew at that point she had to be blushing, and she hoped that he wouldn’t notice, or maybe just think her cheeks were rosy from the cold air outside. “It’s fine. Just don’t get used to it.”

 

Once they passed the square, the carriage made one last turn and stopped smoothly in front of the main gondola station. The little wheels inside her head had been turning at warp speed trying to figure out what exactly he had planned for the evening, and at that moment she thought she’d figured out at least part of it.

 

“Wait, we’re going to Castle Black for dinner? Why is the gondola station not packed?” she asked. The driver of the carriage walked around to open the door, and Gendry got out first. He offered his hand out to help her down the fold-out steps, and while it was her immediate reaction to say something about how she was more than capable of doing it herself, she remembered the height of the shoes she was wearing, and decided she could let him be chivalrous. _Just this once_ , she told herself. _Besides, it’s much more favorable than breaking an ankle_. She took his hand and let him help her down, having every intention of letting go as soon as she was on solid ground, but standing she was no longer able to hide her hands from the cold inside her coat, and _gods, how are his hands so warm? Okay, we can hold hands. It’s a necessity. Totally Darwinian. Protection against frostbite. Yes, totally that._

 

“I didn’t want to deal with the rush, so I talked the reservations guy into getting a table for a half hour after their normal first seating,” he explained, quickly looking down to their still-joined hands before guiding her away from the carriage. Whoever he’d talked to on the phone the other night has explained that there was a first seating at six thirty, and then a second at eight thirty, neither of which he wanted. It took a bit of hassling, maybe dropping the Stark name, and there was a corner booth for Waters, party of two, at seven. “Besides, I’ve got another surprise planned and I don’t really want a crowd for it.”

 

“What kind of surprise?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. _Really though? I’ve got no clue what the hell else he’s planning. Could be anything. Gondie full of puppies for all I know_ , she thought. _That’d actually be awesome_.

 

“You’ll see,” he said, smiling as he opened the door to the gondola building. “I didn’t plan all of this to spoil it for you.”

 

As they turned the corner towards where the cabins were each loaded, walking through what normally was jam-packed full of people all day long, she noticed what he must’ve been talking about, and stopped dead in her tracks, right arm going out to stop him.

 

“Gendry, stop. Did you do this?” She pointed at the gondola cabin that was stopped at the loading point, waiting for its passengers, lit up with some sort of holiday Winter Solstice lights.

 

“Of course. The gondies don’t usually come decked out in rope lights, do they? Because shit, that would’ve saved me a ton of legwork and double-A batteries.”

 

She rolled her eyes at him, but finally continued to walk towards the waiting gondola car. The doors were already open, and the one worker who was there closed the doors and re-started the cables once they were seated.

 

Arya had taken the gondola up at night a couple of times before, mostly just with friends or when family was in town and wanted to see lights of the resort and the town at night, but she’d never seen a gondola like this, not for any occasion she could think of. There were rope lights going up the four corners to circle on the ceiling, which was what she’d initially noticed, and there were a handful of glittery snowflake decorations hanging from the ceiling. Across from the door was a space heater that must’ve been going for at least fifteen minutes already judging by how toasty it was inside, and there was a portable Bluetooth speaker that was playing a song which she immediately recognized as Rancid’s Ruby Soho. _Hmm, I’ve found a guy that pays attention it seems_ , she thought to herself, trying not to smile too much.

 

“So let’s see, we’ve got a horse and carriage ride, a hand-decorated gondola complete with a heater, and now dinner at Castle Black,” Arya said, a few moments after the gondola took off from the station, after she’d had enough time to take stock of everything in the cabin. She’d sat on the bench opposite of him, purposely. “I’ve got to say, I’m pretty impressed so far.”

 

“Really?”

 

“I mean, yea. Hells, Gendry, you’ve only lived here for like two weeks, and we only had this date planned for two days and you’ve gone so far out of your way for this. Logistically, I have no clue how you got all of this done,” she explained, gesturing to the inside of gondola and back down towards where the carriage had been left behind. “I have a hard time managing my work schedule and remembering when I made plans with people.”

 

“Well, I told you I wanted this to be memorable, right?” he replied. “And logistically… let’s just say I’ve used about every single connection I’ve got at the resort to pull this off. I owe about a million people favors by now, but it’ll be worth it.”

 

“How do you know that?”

 

He leaned back against the glass of the gondola and crossed his right leg over his left, then shrugged. “Just a good feeling I’ve got.”


End file.
